THE wife of Worcester pilot Peter Burkill, captain of the BA jet which crash landed at Heathrow last week, said their three boys will grow up knowing their daddy is a hero.

"It has had such an impact on our lives, our lives will never be the same again," said Maria Burkill. "It is never going to be forgotten and it has got to be remembered for the positives.

"I am keeping all the newspaper cuttings and will put all the footage on a DVD so that the boys can see it when they are older."

Mr and Mrs Burkill have three sons, Troy, aged two, 15-month-old Logan and 11-week-old Coby. They are too young to understand the enormity of what their father achieved last week, but Mrs Burkill is determined to always celebrate what her husband did on Thursday, January 17.

"There were no fatalities," she said. "It is something that can be completely celebrated for all the right reasons."

Mr Burkill, aged 43, was the captain of the British Airways Boeing 777 flight from Beijing which crash landed at London Heathrow airport. The incident is still being investigated by BA and he was therefore unable to speak to, or be photographed by, your Worcester News.

When news broke of the incident Mrs Burkill had just collected her two older children from nursery and received a call from her father-in-law. When she switched on the news she saw the footage and when she checked her mobile phone there was a message from her husband saying there had been an incident but he was alright.

Thirty-three-year-old Mrs Burkill was advised by her husband's union to leave her family home, in King Stephen's Mount, St John's, Worcester, so set about packing her things and drove to Minehead where they have a time share. It was here she waited for the moment she could see her husband again.

She spoke about the how proud she was of her husband and how although he was not in charge of the controls at the time of the landing, co-pilot John Coward was, he was still instrumental in the landing.

"They were both responsible for that safe landing, they both did something to enable that safe landing," she said.

"I would like to say a big thank you to everybody who has been so supportive. We have had so many emails and messages from people on Facebook we do not even know.

"Peter is really touched by it, but cannot speak for himself."