It's really premature to say it was great flying. When I read about the cudos given to this pilot, I keep thinking of Paul Piché who emergency-landed Air Transat Flight 236 in the Azores with no power. He was lauded as a hero by publicity seeking politicians and a public hungry for heroes, only for it to be determined, quietly a year later, that the pilot was a dumbass that should never be allowed to fly again, in that he caused his own catastrophe. His skill allowed him to pilot the airplane with no engine power, his luck afforded him a nearby airport to emergency-land within 15 minutes of gliding, but his sheer stupidity caused him to dump most of his fuel overboard.

Not saying this is what happened with this incident at Heathrow, what I'm saying is that we really don't know what happened, whether the pilot is experienced or not.

JG, Dublin, Ireland

Erm, am I missing something...this is what he is paid to do..trained to do!
do we hand out medals to every surgeon who does a great job etc

i have family in the same industry as Mr Coward et al and i am mindful every time i fly that my life is in the flight crews hands, just as it is in the drivers when I am in a london cab...

I am not for one moment disrespecting the wonderful outcome of this flight but I wouldn't expect anything less from the crew

BA of years gone by would not have paraded crew out for publicity and media gratification. I despair at the thought of the Captain's wife being 'allowed' to ell her story with Max Cliffords assistance.

can we keep this in perspective, it was a good days work, a good job jobbed

J Ponter, Channel Islands, UK

Well done, what a fantastic ending!

ca, cambridge,

Pilot was a Brit, trained at Oxford Aviation. He must have been switch to the auto-descend on line-up for a short final approach if it was 40 seconds till landing. Short approaches are becoming a necessary risk over Heathrow as air traffic increases these days. Sacrificing safety for less time has it consequence as seen here. 40's isn't nearly enough time to resolve an on-board related engine problem, and plane full of passengers gives it a bad weight to lift ratio.

-, -,

that's the truth brother!!!

James Devine, Mansfield, UK

Please somebody tell me that computer software CANNOT override a pilot's request for more engine power.

Ian, Hexham, England

Brlliant! You earned your pay today sir...

Jeremy Smith, Round Rock, TX

A software fault might be very elusive indeed, and very hard to test for -or exclude.

Roger Baillie, Wolverhampton,

bravo mr. coward.

bofett, bobo,

An absoulute hero in my eyes and such confidence and sudden commitment to focus in an instant on such a huge responsilbilty and emergency. He deserves a high honour!

Debbie Allen, plane lover, Solihull, England.

debbie, solihull, west midlands

man deserves a medal

Sean mullen, Carlow, Ireland

Incredible composure under incredible circumstances... The guys deserve a medal...

John, Volos, Greece

I hope proper recognition for this feat is going to be awarded, his experience and knowledge saved many people's lives.

Frank Niesink, St. Catharines, Canada

Excellent, supremely professional - a frying pan sized medal indeed.
well done that man.

Mike FW, Porthmadog,

I have heard recordings from planes that have sadly crashed and killed the pilots, and what always amazes me is how calm and professional these pilots are when something goes totally wrong, no panic just doing all they can to save the plane. Hats off to all those on this plane and of course, especially Mr Coward who was on the controls at the time and landed with no engines.

Graham, Southend, UK

Good job the handling pilot kept on flying the plane and did not get distracted into other things at this late stage of the flight.

J K Woodhouse, Brighton, England

Superb job, performed with remarkable skill and courage. Everyone on that plane owes their lives to you! Well done!

Georgia Mackowiak, Austin, Texas USA

Coward by name, hero by nature!

Kenny G, London,

you can make the medal out of my frying pan
Superb!

Thomas, Surbiton, uk

How many passengers switched their cell phones on before landing I wonder? RF interference with the avionics?

Paul, Thornton, UK

awesome save dude

david, montreal,

Well done First Officer Coward!!! It's guys like you who make BA feel like such the safe and awesome airline it is :)

LJ, London, England

Even after 20 years operating computers and using the latest models, mine still manages to crash at least once a day.

Happily I'm not 200ft over Hounslow at the time.

MarkS, Leeds,

One more reason to get suspicious of computerized automation
without any limit.

Terho Salo, Haapaniemi, Finland

Never was there ever a man with such an inappropriate name than Mr Coward. He should be immediately promoted to Captain. G Stewart Belfast.

George Stewart, Belfast, Down

Thank God! The plane designers, The pilot training scheme's and what fantastic news. Made me want to cry with gratitude to see this near disaster averted.

Neil, Chester,

You're the DADDY John - Top man

Andy D, London, England

Top gun!

andre, Dorval,

Great flying, and a sign of another miracle, that sometimes, we aren't flying alone.

Jeff Huber, Murray, Utah

I hope the pilot, first officer and the cabin crew, who worked toghether to save the lives of those passengers on the sticken 777 get the hero's status that they should. Total respect goes to them all.

Graham Rowe, Guildford, Surrey

Piloting first class, but with 20 seconds to play with, and strapped into his seat, it has to be right first time. I think wet grass was the best possible surface to slide on, very few sparks.

David Vinter, Louth Lincs,, UK.

I've seen no mention of system failure induced by unthinking passengers through use of mobile phones. Before touch-down, I've several times seen people turn on their mobiles to check mail or even make calls. Illegal of course and shouted at by cabin staff and passengers like me who notice. Sure, fly by wire avionics are supposed to be resistant to mobile phones, but what if...?

Paul Lefrere, Milton Keynes, Bucks

Magnificent effort from from the flight deck and cabin crew!!.
All air travellers should take comfort from the examples as shown, in this potential disaster, averted by the training, dedication and professionalism, that Pilots and Cabin crews have demonstrated in this incident.
Further proof that the skills of a Pilot will always be far more
efficient than any computerised technology.
Pilots question, and survive, no disaster!!
Computers just ' Crash ', and as we've all experinced, a real disaster.
If the day ever arrives, when there is no Pilot driving, that's the day I stop flying.
Roy Fordham, Cairns, Nth Queensland, Australia.

Roy Fordham, Cairns, Queensland,Australia.

As the saying goes,"Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing."

Bruce L. Northwood, Washington, D.C., USA

Something to tell the children!

Andy B, London,

Maybe now the die hard Boeing proponents won't be quite so quick to criticise the Airbus automated systems design every time there is an incident involving the Airbus. Well done to the crew!

Alan Sodergren, Orange Beach, Alabama

First Officer Coward is a true professional airman. Congratulations for a fine job done,it is you Sir, who is a true hero.

Phil de Buquet, Newport, England

First Officer Coward, you are indeed a fine pilot.

Congratulations on your skills and may you receive all the plaudits you are due.

John Blackley, Winter Garden, Florida

I am astonished by the quick and professional actions of the cabin crew to evacuate the plane immediately upon coming to a halt. The flight crew did their part and then it was time for the cabin crew to do theirs. A perfect hand off. Kudos to them,

PJ Vierra, Sacramento, CA/USA

Damn fine flying!

W J O'Connor, Pittsburgh, USA