By CHRISTIAN GYSIN

The British Airways plane that crash landed at Heathrow today was a Boeing 777 - currently regarded as the safest aeroplane in the world by aviation experts.

The plane has only been in use for seven years and is the first aircraft of its kind to have been designed by computers and boasts the latest "avionic and navigational systems".The Boeing 777 has a number of variant models - such as the 777-200ER and 777-300ER - but all the models being flown around the world currently have a clean safety record.Scroll down for more ...

One of the most distinguishing features of the plane relates to its undercarriage and the six wheels attached to the main landing gear.At present Singapore Airlines is the largest operator of the 777 with a fleet of 69 - while British Airways currently runs 43 of the wide-bodied twin engined airliners.While there have been no "hull loss accidents" involving the planes, there have been a few incidents in recent years.The one death involving a 777 was at Denver International airport in 2001 when a ground worker received fatal burns while refuelling BA flight 2019.The accident saw the aircraft's wings badly scorched but repairs were carried out and the plane was soon back in service.In August 2004 a Singapore Airlines 777-312 suffered an engine explosion as it took off from Melbourne airport.This was later found to have been caused by erosion to high pressure "liners" within the Rolls-Royce engines.And on March 1, 2005, there was a problem involving a Pakistan International Airlines 777-200ER . Fire was seen around the left "main landing gear" as it came in to land at Manchester International Airport.The crew and passengers were evacuated and there was minor damage to the aircraft which was later repaired.The most recent incident involving the 777 prior to today's Heathrow emergency landing involved a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777-200ER on August 1, 2005.The plane had taken off from Perth, Western Australia, en route to Kuala Lumpur when it started to "overspeed and stall" and then "pitch" at 41,000 feet.The pilots executed an emergency landing at Perth and no one was injured.