Passenger on MAYDAY BA flight shouted ‘I don’t want to die’

A passenger aboard a British Airways flight that issued a ‘mayday’ distress call had to be calmed down amid fears they were going to crash.

New details have emerged following the ‘serious incident’ earlier this month, with one traveller describing his fear after the plane suffered an air data systems failure.

The aircraft was reportedly ‘seconds from disaster’ while over Canary Wharf on July 6, as it flew from Düsseldorf to Heathrow.

While at 4,000ft, flight BA919 encountered an issue in the cockpit, leading to two stall warnings and the crew declaring a PAN PAN – an international radio signal for an urgent but not life-threatening emergency.

This was later upgraded to ‘mayday’, indicating imminent danger.

Thankfully, after performing a go-around and descending to 2,200ft before returning to the approach path, the Airbus A320 was able to land safely.

But this certainly didn’t stop passengers from becoming distressed, particularly when the pilot performed an ‘abrupt’ turn to aid recovery.

Speaking to BBC News about what he experienced, Edward Killiwick explained that he was flying back from a friend’s birthday party with his partner, Julie.

He said passengers were told that the landing had been aborted before feeling a ‘very violent manoeuvre’, adding that there was a lack of communication from the cabin crew.

Consequently, Mr Killiwick ‘did think [they] would crash’.

Amid the crisis, he also had to comfort a woman who he says ‘completely lost it’ and started screaming, ‘I don’t want to die.’

‘The violent manoeuvre almost felt like it was avoiding another aircraft. You could feel the engines going at full power,’ he recalled.

‘It was a bit odd going around in a holding pattern with no information. I thought, “If they’re not talking, then they’re not in a good place”.’

Mr Killiwick added that he was ‘definitely scared’, having recognised that there was ‘definitely something very badly wrong’, and ‘everyone’ thought crashing was a ‘possibility’.

‘Then we did land, but still no communication from the flight deck, which I suppose isn’t surprising, as I suppose they had quite a lot to do.’

He noted how ‘relieved’ everyone was to be back on the ground, while a few people ‘clapped’ and his partner ‘shed tears’.

‘Everyone was very, very quiet. There was almost no conversation. That’s the eerie thing.’

An investigation into the situation – which has reportedly been classified as a loss of control in-flight and described as ‘pilot-induced’ – is ongoing with BA’s assistance.

Meanwhile, a source claimed to The Sun that it was the ‘most serious near miss in the UK in years’, with the captain having to intervene to override the first officer’s initial input to try and remedy the first stall.

‘To recover from this position is difficult, especially so low to the ground,’ the source said.

‘It is unheard of for a captain to physically intervene in the cockpit.’

With the captain now understood to be off work on ‘stress leave’, senior figures have said there was almost a ‘hull loss’, a term used to describe an aircraft that is destroyed or damaged beyond repair.

Upon opening its investigation, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said: ‘During the approach phase, an ADR failure triggered a stall warning; the crew flew the aircraft under alternate law and declared a PAN.

‘A further stall warning occurred at 3,000 feet, accompanied by a potentially abrupt recovery manoeuvre, resulting in the PAN being changed to a MAYDAY. The aircraft landed without further incident.’

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the UK’s aviation regulator, has said it cannot comment on ongoing reviews. British Airways has confirmed its cooperation with the investigation.

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