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Pilot plays down 'hero' role

Captain Hackett, 61, singled out the Leeds assistant manager David O'Leary who forced open one of the emergency exits, hurting his shoulder in the process. He said Mr O'Leary was one of the few passengers to listen to the crew's safety announcements.

"He said he remembered everything," said Capt Hackett.

According to experts, the pilot only had about 30 seconds to land the 50-seater Emerald Airways 748 turbo-prop at the Essex airport before there was a severe explosion.

He landed the plane and brought it to rest in the grass at the end of the runway after ditching from about 150 feet. All 40 players, officials and fans returning from the club's Premiership game at West Ham escaped without serious injury.

When asked about being called a hero, he said: "I find it all very embarrassing quite frankly, because any other pilot would have done the same.

"We are trained to deal with all eventualities. This became putting that training into practice."

First emergency in a 27-year career

Capt Hackett, who revealed that it was his first emergency in 27 years of flying, said he was just doing his job and paid tribute to the "calmness" of his co-pilot and crew who he said shared the credit for the outcome of the incident.

Before he made his remarks, a letter form Leeds United was read out thanking him and the crew.

Capt Hackett described the events. He said the plane had taken off normally and was only in the air a matter of seconds when he was alerted to a fire in the right engine by the number one stewardess.

'Not just a fire'

He said that it was "not just an engine fire" but there was also an explosion "which could have blown the wing off". However, he refused to speculate on what might have happened if he had not taken prompt evasive action.

He said he had a "split-second" to make a decision and decided to crash land rather than "make a circuit", coming up short at about 140mph and sliding onto the grass. He was the last person off the plane, he said.

It was a "co-ordinated effort and all drills were carried out as per operational proceedure. The nosewheel detatched making the event look more dramatic than it actually was."

On a lighter note, Captain Hackett declined to say which football team he supported and joked that his family had simply said "good evening" when he arrived home. He also said he was looking forward to his next flying job.

One of the stewardesses on board said some of the passengers were "shouting and screaming" when the engine fire was noticed. But she said she thought they would land safely.

"My confidence was in the flight crew. That's what we're trained for," she said.

A company spokesman said that the plane engine still had about 1,500 miles to do before it was due for its next regulatory check. He said it was an "unexplained event" and said the chances must be "millions to one".

Praise for pilot

Shortly after the accident, Stansted Duty Manager Melvyn Seymour said: "I would think that they had another 30 seconds before there would have been a major fire.

"I dread to think what would have happened then. You would have been talking about a major explosion and I would think almost certainly fatalities.

"From the time of the fire and explosion in the engine took place he would probably have had a few seconds to decide to abort the flight.

"Those are the decision pilots are trained to make and he made a superb decision."

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