Latest news with #PhillipaJackson
Telegraph
11 hours ago
- General
- Telegraph
‘I changed my Air India flight last minute. My wife thought I was on doomed plane'
A British father who was booked on the Air India plane that crashed has said he feels 'grateful' after he changed his flight at the last minute Owen Jackson, 31, was in India for work but had not told his wife, Phillipa, 30, that he was no longer flying home from Ahmedabad last Thursday. Phillipa feared she had been widowed when news broke of the plane crash, in which at least 270 people died. But Mr Jackson, from Saffron Walden, Essex, had fortuitously changed his booking to Saturday because he was tied up with work. 'It's a shock,' he told The Sun. 'I'm more grateful than anything else. It is such a weird coincidence. 'You hear it every now and again about planes going down, and you don't really think much of it, but when it's the actual aircraft you're potentially getting on two days later, it does make you think.' Mr Jackson was coincidentally booked onto seat 11A on his Saturday flight – the same number as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the disaster. 'I was just bursting into tears randomly' Mrs Jackson, a teacher, was unaware of her husband's fate for hours because he had not said that he had changed his flights, and he was also in meetings until two hours after the crash. 'I work with children, so I was kind of teaching at the time and just trying not to let them see or know what I was feeling,' she said. 'I still feel affected by it now, to be honest with you, for days. I was just bursting into tears randomly. 'The way we felt is nothing compared to how the victims and their families are actually feeling, my heart really goes out to them. It's just awful.' Mr Jackson added: 'I hadn't checked my phone two hours after it happened, after the news broke. 'I probably was one of the last people to find out about it, funnily enough, because I was in meetings exactly when the news was breaking.' All but one of the 242 passengers on board died in the crash, including 52 British nationals. Investigators are continuing to search the crash site in the Meghaninagar district, nearly a mile from the end of the runway at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner headed for London Gatwick crashed into a hostel, where medical students and their families were living, 30 seconds after take-off.
Daily Mail
18 hours ago
- General
- Daily Mail
The SECOND miracle of Seat 11A! British father was also due to fly on doomed Air India plane but had to change flights... and was booked on the same lucky seat as crash survivor
A British father who was due to be on board the doomed Air India plane that crashed last week is 'grateful' for his life after deciding to change flights at the last minute. Owen Jackson, 31, from Saffron Walden in Essex, had been in India for work and was expecting to come home on Thursday. But tied up at work, his colleagues suggested he take a flight back on Saturday instead. On Thursday morning, Flight AI171 crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad Airport in Gujarat, leaving just one survivor from 242 on board, including 53 Britons. Owen had not told his family which day on which day he was set to fly, and was in meetings - not checking his phone - as his wife learned of the tragedy. In a strange coincidence, he had been booked on to Seat 11A on the Saturday flight - the same lucky seat number that sole survivor Vishwash Kumar Ramesh had been sitting in on Flight AI171 when it crashed. 'It's a shock,' Owen told The Sun. 'I'm more grateful than anything else - it is such a weird coincidence.' 'You hear it every now and again about planes going down and you don't really think much of it, but when it's the actual aircraft you're potentially getting on two days later, it does make you think.' A video posted to social media appeared to show the plane descending in a controlled manner with a high nose angle and landing gear deployed Owen's wife, Phillipa, 30, was unaware of her husband's fate for hours as he had not told her that he had changed his plans. Owen said he was probably one of the last people to find out about the crash, not looking at his phone for some two hours after it happened. Phillipa, a teacher, told The Sun that she was working at the time and 'just trying to not let [the children] see or know what I was feeling' as she waited for news from Owen. 'I still feel affected by it now, to be honest with you, for days,' she said. 'I was just bursting into tears randomly. 'The way we felt is nothing compared to how the victims and their families are actually feeling, my heart really goes out to them, it's just awful.' British father Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, was identified last week as the sole survivor from the tragic incident in India. Incredibly, the passenger of Seat 11A was able to walk away from the crash. Astonishing footage showed him with visible injuries hobbling away from the scene of the crash. He reportedly sustained injuries to his chest, eyes and feet. Mr Ramesh, from Leicester, was travelling home from seeing family in India when the plane crashed, hitting buildings housing doctors in the city of Ahmedabad. Before the discovery of the British survivor, authorities said that they believed no one had escaped the flight alive. The plane had been carrying 242 people, according to police. There were 53 British nationals on board as well as 159 Indian nationals, seven Portuguese citizens and a Canadian. Eleven of those on board were children, including two newborns. Indian authorities have yet to identify the cause of the disaster and have ordered inspections of Air India's Dreamliners. Authorities announced Sunday that the second black box, the cockpit voice recorder, had been recovered. This may offer investigators more clues about what went wrong. The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) captures all audio from the cockpit, including pilot conversations, radio transmissions, warning alarms and ambient mechanical sounds. It will allow investigators to finally understand what happened in the moments leading up to one of the world's worst aviation disasters in a decade. Planes usually carry two black boxes - small but tough electronic flight data recorders made with robust materials such as titanium or steel and insulated with fire-resistant materials to withstand extreme conditions during a crash. The first black box was recovered on Friday from the rooftop of a building at the site of the crash just 28 hours after the crash by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). Authorities say it will now be easier to determine the exact cause of the crash with both the CVR and the Flight Data Recorder having been found. Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said Saturday he hoped decoding the first black box, the flight data recorder, would 'give an in-depth insight' into the circumstances of the crash. Imtiyaz Ali, who was still waiting for a DNA match to find his brother, said the airline should have supported families faster. 'I'm disappointed in them. It is their duty,' said Ali, who was contacted by the airline on Saturday. 'Next step is to find out the reason for this accident. We need to know,' he told AFP.
The Sun
a day ago
- General
- The Sun
Shocked Brit dad reveals how he cheated death on doomed Air India flight after last minute change of plans
A BRITISH dad has told of his shock after he was originally due to fly home on the doomed Air India flight - but changed his plans. Owen Jackson, 31, from Saffron Walden in Essex, had been on a work trip to India and scheduled to jet back on Thursday. 6 Businessman Owen, who was in the country for the first time to help train colleagues in a call centre, had to decide between flying back on Thursday or Saturday. In the end his colleagues said to take the Saturday flight as the job would take a bit longer than originally planned. He was then booked onto the same route on Saturday which would have been the same aircraft as the one which crashed, killing all but one of the 242 people onboard. In a bizarre coincidence, Owen was booked onto seat 11A for the Saturday flight. It is the same seat number as the sole survivor of the devastating crash, Vishwashkumar Ramesh. Owen told The Sun: 'It's a shock. I'm more grateful than anything else - it is such a weird coincidence. 'You hear it every now and again about planes going down and you don't really think much of it, but when it's the actual aircraft you're potentially getting on two days later, it does make you think. 'My main emotion on the whole thing is I'm quite grateful for the fact that I made that decision when I did.' When news first broke of the crash, Owen had not told his family back home which day he was due to fly back on. Wife Phillipa, 30, spent two hours unsure whether her husband had perished in the crash, as he had not informed her he had changed his plans. Owen said: 'I hadn't checked my phone two hours after it happened, after the news broke. I probably was one of the last people to find out about it, funnily enough, because I was in meetings exactly when the news was breaking.' Phillipa said: 'It was surreal. It was like being in a dream, but not actually just hoping to wake up, but pinching yourself over and over again and not waking up. 'I work with children, so I was kind of teaching at the time and just trying to not let them see or know what I was feeling. 'I still feel affected by it now, to be honest with you, for days. I was just bursting into tears randomly. 'The way we felt is nothing compared to how the victims and their families are actually feeling, my heart really goes out to them, it's just awful.' 6 6 6 6 6
