Heroic pilot calls wife after emergency landing in cornfield

A PACKED Airbus-321 has made a terrifying emergency landing in a cornfield after birds got caught in both engines shortly after takeoff.

All 226 passengers and crew were reported to have evacuated the Russian aircraft, with some suffering serious injuries.

Reports from Russia say that when a bird got into the left engine it caught fire.

At the same time the second engine stopped working.

After the first engine caught fire, passengers reported “a flash and then a smell of smoke”.

Hero pilot Damir Yusupov ( pictured) had initially called for an emergency landing International back at Moscow’s Airport Zhukovsky but y t plane then down decided at the to earliest bring opthe e portunity – in a cornfield near r Ramenskoye.

Speaking to the media a after the crash, Captain Yusupov revealed he bizarrely got back into the cockpit of the e plane wreck to ring his wife to tell her what had happened.

“Engine power was not enough to continue the flight, even to maintain the altitude that we had occupied by that time,” he said.

“There was little time. But when they saw that the second engine was also failing, I had a decision – to land the plane just in front of me.

“Af “After the evacuation of passengers I got out, went around the plane, examined the external damage, made sure that everything was at a safe distance. I returned to the cockpit and from there called my wife.

“Many people say that I am a hero, but to be honest, I don’t feel like a hero at all, because I did what I had to do: saved the plane, passengers, crew.”

Vladimir Putin’s spokesman yesterday hailed Mr Yusupov a hero after he made the extraordinary manual landing in a cornfield, saving the lives of all on board.

Dmitry Peskov said: “The plane’s passengers and crew remained alive, we wish a speedy recovery to those injured, and congratulations to the hero pilots who saved lives and landed the plane.”

Latest reports reveal 23 people received injuries, mainly during the emergency evacuation. are One standing passenger in yt the said: middle “We of the “One field. e- lad broke his arm. Another r one broke his finger. “They told us nothing. “The engine clapped several times, they tried to restart it, and we began to fall down.

“I was holding onto the cross around my neck and now I do believe in God.”

In a statement the Ural Airlines press service said: “While taking off from Zhukovsky airport, multiple birds got into the engines of the plane of the flight U6178. The plane had an emergency landing. The crew and passengers were not hurt.”