Thirty Seconds to Impact
Peter Burkill captured the world's attention when the aircraft he was captain of crashed into London Heathrow in January 2008.Peter was born in Chesham, Bucks in 1964 and educated at Dr Challoner's Grammar School, Amersham. He attained a BAHons degree in Business Studies at Portsmouth before working as a minilab sales representative with Kodak UK. Peter had been accepted to train as a commercial pilot at Prestwick under the British Airways sponsorship scheme in 1987, where he graduated in 1989. He has since flown for British Airways for 20 years flying Lockhead Tristars, DC-10s and Boeing 777s. Peter achieved his command on B777s in 2004 and during his career has accumulated over 13000 flight hours. He took voluntary redundancy from British Airways in August 2009.Maria Burkill was born on the Wirral, Merseryside in 1974 and was educated at Upton Hall Convent, Upton. When she left school she followed her heart and became a Redcoat at Butlins, moving on to working as a holiday representative, travel agent and then into the aviation industry as an air hostess with British Airways. Peter and Maria met in 2002 and married 9 months later. Maria left British Airways at this time and joined an NHS ambulance service and started training as an ambulance technician. Within four years Maria and Peter were the proud parents of three sons and Maria had qualified in her profession. They are currently living in Worcester, UK.