The pilot of a British Airways jet that was forced to abandon its takeoff after an engine burst into flames has been lauded for averting a potential disaster. Captain Chris Henkey and the crew of the Boeing 777-200 bound for London’s Gatwick airport from Las Vegas had to abandon the takeoff partway down the runway when one of the two engines caught fire.
Henkey, who has been a pilot for 42 years, issued a mayday call and brought the plane to a stop. Then he ordered the evacuation of the 157 passengers and 13 crew members.
Henkey is the latest man – and all these heroes are men, owing to an industry where women are still an extreme minority – to join the ranks of airplane pilots who demonstrated quick thinking in the face of destruction. Here are five other pilots who managed remarkable emergency landings.
Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger
Photograph: Safety Reliability Methods Handout/EPA
In perhaps history’s most famous forced landing, Captain Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger successfully crash-landed US Airways flight 1549 in the Hudson River after the plane hit a large flock of birds and both engines were disabled. Dubbed the “hero of the Hudson” after bringing 155 passengers to safety in the powerless aircraft on 15 January 2009, Sullenberger became a national hero in the US. Sullenberger, now retired, speaks internationally on airline safety.
Captain Eric Moody
All four engines on a Boeing 747 failed at 37,000ft after the plane flew through volcanic ash while passing over Jakarta on 24 June 1982. Moody – displaying the cool-headed nature required of a pilot – made the following announcement to his passengers: “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are all doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.”
Moody used autopilot to glide the plane into a gentle descent. Eventually, the engines came back to life after the molten ash that clogged the engines solidified and broke off. The plane landed in Jakarta.
Captain Bob Pearson
Now nicknamed the Gimli Glider, Air Canada flight 143 was flying from Montreal to Edmonton on 23 July 1983, when the plane ran out of fuel at 41,000ft. Pearson initially thought a fuel pump had failed but soon realized the engines had lost power, and was able to glide the Boeing 767-233 safely to an emergency landing at Gimli Industrial Park airport.
Alastair Atchison
British Airways flight 5290 had taken off from London on its way to Spain on 10 June 1990 when part of the plane’s windshield came loose and sucked Captain Tim Lancaster out of the plane. A flight attendant grabbed Lancaster to keep him from flying away.
Saving the flight fell to Atchison, the co-pilot, who tried to get on the radio to declare an emergency, but couldn’t hear the response because of the noises surrounding him. Once he got landing permission from an airport in Southampton, Atchison guided the plane down, navigating as debris flew around the cockpit and Lancaster remained on the windshield, still held by the flight attendant. Lancaster survived, suffering a few fractures and frostbite.
Captain Bryce McCormick
As it left Detroit on 12 June 1972, American Airlines flight 96 from LA to New York lost its rear cargo door, causing a decompression explosion. Part of the floor at the rear gave way, severing a control cable and disabling an engine. McCormick managed to perform an emergency landing in Detroit with no casualties or major injuries.
