THE pilot of the British Airways aircraft that crash-landed at Heathrow said he feared the flight would end in “catastrophe” as he struggled to cope with a double engine failure just two miles from touchdown.

Speaking about the crash for the first time, First Officer John Coward, 41, said the two engines lost power simultaneously, leaving him with just seconds to bring flight BA038 down. He managed to clear the perimeter fence before landing 1,000ft short of the runway, avoiding any fatalities.

Investigators are now examining the theory the crash may have been caused by a failure in the avionics and electronics systems that control the aircraft’s engines. British Airways is expected to examine the systems of its 43 Boeing 777s, although the Air Accidents Investigation Branch says there is no need to ground the planes.

A former 777 pilot said it was extremely unlikely both engines would have simultaneously failed. “For two engines to fail at that stage of the flight - it’s not lack of fuel or contamination,” he said. “It’s got to have been commanded [by the automatic control systems]. We are all aghast.”

Aviation experts will also compare the crash with an incident in August 2005 when a Malaysia Airlines 777 suffered an electronics failure. British Airways said yesterday it had carried out an emergency directive to correct that “software” fault. A source close to Boeing denied the two incidents were linked. The wreckage of flight BA038 is expected to be removed from Heathrow’s southern runway this morning.

Coward was in control of flight BA038 as it made its final approach. The Boeing 777 was at 600ft, less than 40 seconds from touchdown, when he noticed its speed was dropping below the level he had set. He was forced to push the nose down to gain speed but, in doing so, lost valuable height.

Coward told Sky News: “The adrenaline kicked in when I realised I had to land the plane with absolutely no power at all. There are drills for a power failure at 30,000ft, when you have time to reset and start the engines, but there are no drills for this. As I was approaching the runway, I thought that this was going to be a catastrophic crash.”

The aircraft landed short of the paved runway surface. Coward said: “I expected an almighty great crash but instead it bounced along the ground. I tried my best to keep it straight and stop it spinning off. When eventually it did stop, there was an eerie silence.”

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