Passenger on British Airways mayday flight describes fear and shout of ‘I don’t want to die’

A passenger on a British Airways flight that issued a distress call on approach to Heathrow Airport earlier this month has described the rising fear in the cabin and a lack of information from the crew.

Edward Killiwick had been travelling back from a friend’s birthday party with his partner Julie, on the flight from Dusseldorf in Germany on 6 July.

He said passengers were told that the landing had been aborted, and then he felt a “very violent manoeuvre” and “did think we could crash”. He and his partner had to comfort a woman who “completely lost it and started screaming, ‘I don’t want to die’”.

The flight landed safely, but the incident is being investigated with assistance from BA.

The UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said it was “investigating a serious incident”, and France’s accident investigation authority, the BEA, said on Wednesday that the plane, an Airbus A320, had issued a distress call.

Edward said: “The violent manoeuvre almost felt like it was avoiding another aircraft. You could feel the engines going at full power.

“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.”

He said they were in a holding pattern for about 15 minutes.

The BEA said that as the plane approached Heathrow, there was a data system failure which triggered a stall warning.

The crew then flew the aircraft in a different mode called “alternate law”, which removes some automated flight protection systems. Another stall warning then occurred at 3,000 feet — which experts say was likely to have been just miles away from the airport.

The urgency call the crew had already made was upgraded to mayday, indicating imminent danger.

A British Airways spokesperson said the airline was assisting the AAIB with its investigation and was not legally able to comment further at this stage.

Edward said: “I was definitely scared. After the violent manoeuvre I thought, there is definitely something very badly wrong here. I did think we could crash.

“I did think it was a possibility, and I think everyone else did.”