During June last year, a Boeing 757 flight from Glasgow to Crete experienced an engine failure whilst cruising at 29,000ft over the Netherlands, causing it to redirect to Frankfurt, Germany and perform an emergency landing.

With the safety of the 278 passengers on board being of paramount importance, the fate of this unfortunate incident rested solely with one person, the pilot.

It was reported by authorities that the pilot sent out an emergency code at 6.14pm (UTC), whilst over Holland, eventually landing safely at 8.58pm local time.

It emerged that the plane had encountered a failure in its second engine, causing the pilot to act not only immediately, but calmly and instinctively. Once on the ground the plane was met by emergency services and all 278 passengers on board were evacuated safely into the terminal.

Warminster School are proud to say that the pilot of the plane in question was former 2005-2006 Head Boy, Jasper Matthews. Whilst we cannot vouch for his ballroom dancing skills, the calm and effective manner in which Jasper dealt with this high-stakes situation serves to reflect and echo the very ethos of the School, which seeks to turn out young people who are (in the words of J.F. Roxburgh) “acceptable at a dance and invaluable at a shipwreck.”