I thank the Man Upstairs, says Heathrow crash hero John Coward

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Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday three days after the dramatic crash-landing at Heathrow, John Coward said: "Normally in emergency situations, your training takes over.

"But training doesn't help much when your engines have just died and you are still short of the runway.

"I tried to keep the aircraft straight and when we went down I remember thinking, 'This is going to be a major catastrophe.'

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John Coward, left, with Captain Peter Burkill, centre and crew member Sharon Eaton-Mercer. Coward said, 'Some thanks has to go to the Man Upstairs'

"All the crew did their job absolutely brilliantly but I think some thanks has to go to the Man Upstairs for giving us that little lift at the end."

All airline crew take part in extensive drills in dealing with the nightmare scenario of what to do when a jet's engines suddenly stop at 30,000ft - but not when it is just about to land.

"We are intensively drilled in how to re-fire the engines," said 41-year-old Mr Coward.

"But in this case there was no time - just a matter of seconds.

"I just focused on holding it up in the air as long as possible, then keeping it straight. When we landed there were several thuds. I expected there to be a major catastrophe but there wasn't.

"I can't even remember how I got off the plane but there was a fair degree of panic. Then I sat in a room with lots of people rushing around me.

"I was staring into space thinking about what I could do, as the adrenaline was still pumping hard."

The modest farmer's son yesterday arrived back at the house in Valbonne in the South of France where he lives with his French wife Valerie, 43, and their three children, feeling "happy but utterly exhausted".

He said: "I had barely got through the door when our nine-year-old daughter Coralie threw her arms around me and said, 'My daddy the hero.' But I don't consider myself a hero at all."