My last blog looked at the tragic deaths of many major stars that were well loved and talented. But there are several people who have escaped death in such disasters too. Here are some headline-hitting cases of near disasters by some of the world’s most famous people.
Leeds United Football Club (left) – On 30th March 1998 the team were returning home following a 3-0 defeat at West Ham when an engine exploded on their British Aerospace 748 Turboprop owned by Emerald Airlines. Their pilot, Captain John Hackett, guided the aircraft down to Stansted Airport where the aircraft scraped across the runway nose-down, the engine by now ablaze. All 40 passengers and four crew got off safely with just two injuries. The pilot was hailed a hero and saved Leeds United from certain death not long after the 40th anniversary of the Munich commemorations.
Ozzy Osborne – Rock star Ozzy and his family have become household names in the last 50 years or so, but on 19th March 1982 the Osborne’s were to escape death in a very public way. The ex-Black Sabbath singer was touring with his friend and guitarist Randy Rhodes but while Ozzy was taking the bus, Randy was flying with a hairdresser and pilot when it narrowly missed the bus and crashed in flames killing all three on board. Just a few feet lower and the occupants of the bus would have been wiped out.
Yassir Arafat (left) – The Palestinian leader was in a private plane over the Libyan desert on 9th April 1992 when a sandstorm brought down the aircraft. Of 13 people on board, three were killed and the plane was not found for 12 hours. By then he was located battered and bruised but otherwise OK. The treacherous Sahara Desert and the impact of the crash making this survival story a quite remarkable one giving the odds.
Harrison Ford (below right) – The actor famous for portraying adventurer Indiana Jones has had his fair share of dramas himself, not least him being accident prone. On 6th March 2015 he was piloting his single engine light aircraft when it got into difficultly over Los Angeles. He remained calm and carefully brought it down low over a golf course before crash landing, the aircraft being a complete mess but incredibly the 72 year old survived with just cuts and bruises. He had previously been in two other aircraft emergencies.
Travis Barker/ DJ AM – On 19th September 2008 a Learjet carrying six people was taking off from Colombia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina when it overshot the runway and crashed killing four people. The two survivors were musician Travis Barker from the band Blink 182 and DJ Adam Goldsteain, also known as DJ AM. Although their injuries were serious burns both survived the crash, although DJ AM was found dead less than a year later due to drugs.
John Lyndon (left) – On 21st December 1988 the lead singer of the punk band The Sex Pistols, “Johnny Rotten” was booked onto Pan Am flight 103 for the transatlantic flight but his wife was taking too long to pack. They ended up missing their flight and had to arrange a later one instead, but at 1902 hours the flight was ripped apart by a terrorist bomb and killed all 259 on board the plane and 11 on the ground when it hit the town of Lockerbie in Scotland.
Seth Macfarlane – Famous for his animated series’ such as Family Guy and American Dad, Seth was booked onto American Airlines flight 11 bound for Los Angeles on the morning of 11th September 2001. A mix up with the itinerary had him miss the flight and get the times for takeoff wrong. The plane was hijacked and flown into the North Tower of New York’s World Trade Center in what became known as the 9/11 attacks. Others who should have been either on the planes or in the buildings at the time of the attacks were names such as singer Michael Jackson, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson and actor Mark Wahlberg.
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