Near mid-air collision gives Bournemouth musician new found lust for life

‘We were coming in to land…and then suddenly the thrusters cut in and we zoomed back up into the air at a 45 degree angle – I thought I was going to die’
Bournemouth musician Jinder was on a return flight from New York when the plane veered to avoid hitting another plane lost in the fog.
‘It was a bad ending to a great trip.’ Jinder said.
He had been touring in Manhattan with his girlfriend for a week and was looking forward to returning home for the Christmas period.
The musician and his girlfriend were on Virgin Atlantic flight VS26 on December 22 due to land at Heathrow.
The fog, which had surrounded Heathrow Airport the week before Christmas, grounded hundreds of domestic and international flights.
Jinder said, ‘We flew over the night sky of London and saw the fog lit up by the street lights below, it was beautiful.
‘We could see the landing strip metres away and then suddenly the thrusters cut in and we zoomed back up into the air at a 45 degree angle, I thought I was going to die.’
Jinder said that the captain informed the passengers that another plane had been blocking the navigational system which was preventing them from landing.
When the plane eventually did land it had to wait three hours to taxi due to the number of grounded flights.
‘While we were waiting to get off, the Captain gave us more information and said that another plane was wandering around the runway lost in the fog.
‘Air traffic control had told him to take off at the last moment.’ He said.
‘It will make me think twice next time about flying around Christmas and about flying with Virgin Atlantic.
‘I really didn’t feel safe on the flight and I was glad to be on the ground’.