Lucky to be alive
A businessman on board the passenger jet that crash-landed at Heathrow said he felt he was the luckiest man alive.
Mr Stephen Fitzpatrick (58) of Main Street, Carlton-on-Trent, was on the BA038 flight from Beijing, believed to have suffered double engine failure just two miles from touchdown on Thursday last week.
Mr Fitzpatrick is the managing director of Peterborough-based engineering firm Peter Brotherhood. The company has a turnover of £60m and he employs 400 people.
He was on the flight from Beijing after securing an £18m order for gas compressors.
Mr Fitzpatrick was with the company’s sales and marketing director, Mr Steve Wellburn, of Carlton-le-Moorland.
Mr Wellburn wanted to stay in Beijing for a few more days but Mr Fitzpatrick persuaded him to return on his flight, which had 150 passengers and crew.
Mr Fitzpatrick was due to fly into Heathrow today on a BA flight after an overnight business trip to Hamburg.
Speaking before he left Newark, he said: “If people want to fly they should sit with me. I am the luckiest guy alive.”
He was told the odds of surviving a crash like that were one in 21m compared with one in 14m to win the lottery.
Although he was not worried about flying again, he did not know how he would react when he got on the plane yesterday.
“Flying is the safest form of transport. The only thing is that if you crash you are highly unlikely to survive,” he said.
Mr Fitzpatrick spent most of the flight from Beijing sleeping and reading and was watching the port-side engine from his rear-facing window seat as the plane approached Heathrow.
“I was watching the beautiful shape of vapour over the wing. I was surprised we were so low when we came out of the clouds,” he said.
“Shortly after that we had a heavy landing. I did not think anything untoward other than seconds later the lights went out and oxygen masks dropped down.
“The insulation around the fuselage came out of the plastic and rained down like a snow shower.
“The cowling came off the engine and there was metal flying about and we came to a stop.
“Some people say it banked and some say it slewed but I had no feeling of that.
“It was quite undramatic.”
Mr Fitzpatrick said it was only when he looked back at the plane that he realised the enormity of the situation.
“One set of wheels from the undercarriage was 150 yards behind the plane. I did not realise we landed on grass,” he said.
“If we had landed short we would have been on houses and the road. It would have been a disaster.”
Some passengers in first class stopped to put on coats and tried to take bags with them as the plane was evacuated.
“We pushed past and told them in no uncertain terms the error of their ways,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.
He was directed down the emergency chute near the nose of the plane.
Moments later the senior first officer, Mr John Coward, who glided the plane into land, asked Mr Fitzpatrick if everyone was all right.
“I asked him what happened and he said: ‘I just lost power,’” Mr Fitzpatrick said.
“He was as white as a sheet. He was absolutely drained — a man in shock.”
“His first thought was for his passengers, which was very noble.
“The staff were fantastic — well disciplined, calm, firm and very professional.”
Mr Fitzpatrick said they deserved official recognition such as a medal.
Passengers were kept inside the airport building for about four hours as they were tagged and interviewed by police and other officials.
He said there were not enough announcements about what was happening or how long it would take, and passengers were frustrated.
Mr Fitzpatrick said: “We felt like we had done something wrong and were being kept there longer than we needed to be.”
A fellow passenger lent Mr Fitzpatrick a mobile telephone, as his was still on the plane, to call his wife, Mrs Christine Fitzpatrick (58) a planning officer at Newark and Sherwood District Council.
He was unable to reach her so telephoned his secretary, who passed on a message to her and their daughters, Miss Sarah Fitzpatrick (28) of Leeds, Miss Julia Fitzpatrick (26) of London, and Miss Abbie Fitzpatrick (23) of London.
He said his wife was usually late picking him up from Northgate station but when he returned on Thursday night she was waiting for him on the platform.
“She greeted me with a hug and a kiss. I think she had realised the enormity of what could have been,” he said.
Mr Fitzpatrick said passengers, particularly frequent flyers, often did not pay attention to safety briefings.
He said: “What you are told during the announcement is absolutely vital for your own safety and well-being.”
