Killed hero pilot survived '89 aviation disaster

The pilot killed in a light plane crash in bayside Melbourne yesterday was a survivor of one of the world's most dramatic aviation disasters, it has been revealed.

John Stephenson, 77, took off from Moorabbin Airport yesterday and was due to return later that day when his single-engine aircraft crashed into a Chelsea home, killing him instantly.

But 25 years ago, he and his wife Val escaped death when they walked away from a United Airlines jumbo jet disaster in which nine people were killed, A Current Affair reports.

It was February 24, 1989 and the couple was heading back to Australia via Honolulu.

Soon after take-off, at 22,000 feet, a grinding noise rocketed through the plane.

Seconds later the cargo door was torn off, with the resulting decompression sucking out nine passengers strapped into their chairs. All nine people were killed.

Mr Stephenson and his wife had been sitting 11 rows back and escaped unharmed.

The experienced pilot would soon return to the air, even assembling the single-engine craft of his last flight himself.

It would be his passion for flying that eventually claimed his life.

Sources close to the Stephenson family told A Current Affair they have kept the oxygen masks and life-vest from the aircraft debris.

In a statement the family says the "loving husband, treasured father-of-four and inspirational grandfather" will be greatly missed.

Source: A Current Affair
Author: Chloe Ross, Approving editor: Nicholas McCallum