True Heroes in the Sky

1. I think about what happened every day. That day, I was up early because I was working on the British Airways 7:30 a.m. flight from Birmingham to Malaga. I was 36, had been an air steward for 12 years and loved my job. I expected that day to be especially enjoyable. It was a holiday flight, so the eighty-one passengers would be relaxed, and the crew had worked together for years.

2. It was 13 minutes after take off . We had just reached 5,200 metres and everything had been going well. I went into the cockpit and asked the pilots if they’d like tea. I was stepping out, with my hand on the door handle, when there was an enormous explosion and the door was blown out of my hands. All I could think was, ‘It’s a bomb.’ The whole cabin was filled with mist for a second – then the plane started to go down.

3. Looking through the mist, I saw that the front windscreen had disappeared and Tim, the captain, was going through the frame. I held him round his waist to stop him being sucked out completely. At the same time, somehow, the autopilot had become disconnected and the flight door had landed on the controls in the cockpit. It was chaotic. Papers were blowing around everywhere and it was impossible to hear air traffic control.

4. The aircraft was losing height so quickly, however, that the pressure soon equalised and the wind started rushing in at 620 mph. This meant that the plane was now going down, at nearly 650 mph, through some of the busiest skies in the world. Simon, another steward, came rushing through and, with John, managed to free the controls so that Alistair, the co-pilot, could get the autopilot back on.

5. I was still holding onto Tim. I felt my arms weaken and Tim slipping. I thought I was going to lose him, but he ended up bent in a u-shape around the window frame. Blood was coming out of his nose and the side of his head. I couldn’t hold on any longer, so Simon strapped himself into the third pilot’s seat and took hold of Tim’s ankles. I left him hanging on and walked back into the main cabin.

6. By now, Alistair was in communication with an air traffic controller, who was talking him through the landing. He asked for a runway of 2,500 metres because he was worried that the plane was too heavy with fuel for a short landing, but they could only give us 1,800 metres.

7. Over the intercom, Alistair told the passengers we’d lost the windscreen. Some of them could see Tim out of the window. The cabin was as silent as the grave as we walked up and down, preparing everyone for an emergency landing. It seemed impossible, but Alistair did the most amazing landing.

8. The paramedics came on board to take Tim. He was lying there, covered in blood, but to my amazement I heard him say: “I want to eat.” I just exclaimed: “Typical pilot!”