A Virgin Atlantic jumbo jet has made a dramatic, but safe, landing at Gatwick airport after developing a landing-gear fault.

Flight VS43, bound for Las Vegas, touched back down at the West Sussex just before 4pm.

The Boeing 747 jumbo jet returned to Gatwick after developing problems with its landing gear.

Reports in the national media suggested that flight VS43 was ordered to fly low over Southampton Airport so staff could see the landing gear, to determine if it was stuck.

This however has now been denied by the National Air Traffic Service (NATS), which are based at Swanwick, near Fareham, as well as Southampton Airport themselves.

The flight did indeed fly over Southampton, but not for an inspection.

Daily Echo: Virgin Atlantic flight VS43 over Brighton. Picture: Tony WoodThe plane flying over Sussex. Photo by Brighton Argus

The aircraft left Gatwick at 11.45am this morning.

The Boeing 747, which was heading for Las Vegas, was then ordered to turn back and was kept in a holding pattern over Gatwick, before landing shortly before 4pm.

Virgin said: ''Virgin Atlantic can confirm that the plane has landed safely at Gatwick. Our priority now is to look after our passengers.''

 Ambulances and fire-and-rescue crews had been on standby as the plane circled the airport in the hours after it took off for America in late morning.

 Before the successful landing, Virgin announced that the plane would be carrying out a ''non-standard landing procedure'' at Gatwick airport.

Eyewitnesses reported that the jet was flying at a relatively low altitude and that the pilot appeared to be trying to shake the landing gear down.