Hero pilot Captain Peter Burkill speaks of Heathrow crash landing (From This Is Local London)

Hero pilot Captain Peter Burkill speaks of Heathrow crash landing

9:58am Tuesday 9th February 2010 in

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A pilot who crash-landed at Heathrow today spoke of his fear that the 152 people on board would die.

Captain Peter Burkill and co-pilot John Coward were hailed as heroes for averting catastrophe when the Boeing 777 came down 330 metres short of the runway - but within the airfield boundary on January 17, 2008.

Just 34 passengers and 12 cabin crew suffered minor injuries, thanks to their actions.

Captain Peter Burkill today told the BBC he had to stop the jet crashing into a Tube station near the runway.

He said: "It was about 35 seconds until we were due to touch down and it was about 500ft (152.4m) - when we were just passing the north-side of Hounslow Heath, we were about two miles (3.22km) from the landing runway when we became aware there was a problem."

He said there had been no warning until that point that there was failure with the power in both of the plane's engines. He said he has to make split second decisions.

A final report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch found that plane safety requirements did not cover the particular ice problem which probably caused the Boeing 777 to crash-land as the risk was "unrecognised at that time".

Capt Burkill said: "I always think about it - as well as my wife - it will probably never leave me."