British pilot was 'extremely experienced' - DHL
DHL Worldwide Express said today that the British pilot of a cargo plane that collided with a Russian charter flight was ‘‘extremely experienced’’.
Paul Phillips, originally from Liverpool, died along with his Canadian co-pilot and everyone on board the Russian Tu-154.
The 47-year-old captain was survived by a wife, two daughters and a son. He joined the company in 1989 and had more than 10,000 hours of flight time.
His Canadian first officer, Brent Campioni of Surrey, British Columbia, joined the company in December 1999.
He was 34 and married with no children. Campioni had over 5,000 hours of flight time.
‘‘The loss will be sorely felt,’’ the company said.
DHL said it was cooperating fully with the investigation into last night’s crash, and said the plane was not carrying any potentially hazardous materials.
‘‘There were no dangerous goods, nothing unusual, nothing out of the ordinary,’’ said Axel Gietz, head of corporate affairs, in Brussels, Belgium.
