Kegworth air disaster: I never thought we would crash, says survivor Dominica McGowan

Speaking on the 30th anniversary of the tragedy, Dominica McGowan recalls how she sat watching the drama unfold as the plane lost altitude, but was convinced it would land safely.

Sadly her feeling was wrong. The British Midland flight from Heathrow to Belfast, with 126 passengers and crew on board, crashed onto the embankment of the M1 motorway, just yards from the runway at East Midlands Airport where the pilot had been hoping to make an emergency landing after the aircraft developed engine trouble.

Forty-seven people – 29 from Northern Ireland – died and more than 70 others were badly injured – Ms McGowan among them.

The 66-year-old psychotherapist and life coach, a mother of three and grandmother of seven, revealed how she and a colleague had been travelling home from London on January 8, 1989 after completing part of their psychotherapy training.

“We were looking out the window and could see the engine on fire and the smoke coming out. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I wasn’t worried or concerned. It never even occurred to me that we would actually crash,” she told the News Letter.

“I suppose it’s so outside of your experience and awareness that you can’t believe it. We were watching what was happening and commenting on it saying ‘I hope they get this sorted’, but I wasn’t particularly worried.”

Ms McGowan said the mood on board the flight changed when the cabin crew told them to put their seatbelts on and the turbulence got a lot worse.

“I know now it sounds ridiculous, but I just never thought I was going to be in a plane crash. I was telling my friend ‘it’s alright, they’ll get it sorted’.”

Even when the pilot came on the tannoy to tell the crew and passengers to prepare for crash landing, Ms McGowan said she still didn’t believe it.

“I thought ‘ok, it’ll be a bumpy landing, but we’ll be ok’,” she said.

Knocked unconscious by the impact, Ms McGowan came to and managed to free herself from her seat and crawl out before being helped from the wreckage by firefighters.

She had suffered a number of serious injuries including a fractured skull and a punctured lung. She had also damaged her back, pelvis, leg and shoulder.

“I broke everything practically. From head to toe pretty much everything had been damaged,” she recalls.

After a week in intensive care and a further week in hospital receiving treatment she was discharged and allowed to fly home.

She said her back still gives her trouble 30 years later, but knows things could have been so much worse.

“I was very, very lucky. I am lucky to be alive,” she added.

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