Pilot’s ‘gut instinct’ saved passenger jet

10:27am Wednesday 21st May 2008

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A WORCESTER pilot acted on "gut instinct" to safely crashland a passenger jet, his wife has revealed.

The heroics of Captain Peter Burkill were revealed in a newsletter for British Airways staff which said he changed the angle of the plane's wing flaps. This action meant the plane had enough lift and speed to clear Heathrow's boundary fence, and prevented the jet crashing into neigbouring houses.

Maria Burkill, of King Stephen's Mount, St John's, said out of the six wing flap settings, only one would have got the Boeing 777 safely over the runway fence, and this is the one Mr Burkill chose.

Any of the other settings would have caused the plane, with 136 passengers, to miss the runway and crash into nearby homes. "What is so special is they are not trained to do that. There is no set procedure," Mrs Burkill, aged 34, said.

"Moving the flaps was a gut instinct, he has never been told this is what to do.'" The wing flaps - hinged surfaces on the back of a wing - control the amount of lift an aircraft gets. If Mr Burkill, aged 43, had chosen one extreme flap setting, the lift would have slowed the plane down. This loss of speed would have caused the plane to drop because it would not have enough power to stay in the air, and it would not have cleared the fence.

The other extreme flap setting would have maintained the speed, but there would have not been enough lift.

Without enough lift, the plane would not have enough height to clear the fence, and it would have again crashed into the houses.

"What Pete managed to find was the correct compromise of enough lift but not too much reduction on speed, and they cleared the fence," Mrs Burkill said. At the same time as adjusting the wing flaps, co-pilot John Coward pushed the plane's nose towards the ground. This action disconnected the auto pilot, which meant the speed they had obtained by changing the wing flaps could be maintained.

All of this happened in 25 seconds on their final approach.

Since the incident on Thursday, January 17, the conditions have been replicated in a flight simulator.

"No one has done it better than Pete. The best result was what we saw on the day in January," Mrs Burkill said.

An interim report published last week into the crash landing of the plane from Beijing indicated both engines had low fuel pressure.

Mr Burkill is waiting for the all-clear from BA to fly again.