The British Airways pilot who saved 152 lives in the Heathrow crash landing claims he has been mistreated and is planning to quit. Captain Peter Burkill has reportedly been grounded since the incident and has had his salary cut.

The hero pilot, 43, feels "betrayed" by the airline, claiming it has not been supportive enough since the Boeing 777 lost power on January 17th.

He reportedly told friends: "I've had enough. They told me I was a hero - but they've treated me like a fool. "They said they would be there for me after the crash but I feel badly let down" After taking time off with post traumatic-stress, the married father-of-five's salary was halved from £120,000 through lost bonuses. His pay was eventually raised to £90,000 but his bonus is still being withheld as BA claim he cannot fly again until an inquiry into the crash is complete - despite Second Officer Coward and the plane's third pilot returning to work as normal. A BA source told the Sunday Mirror: "It beggars belief. They still won't pay him what he was earning when he was flying but its their fault he can't fly because their report is still not finished.

"They even told him off when they found out he'd sent a couple of the flight's passengers thank-you cards for gifts they'd sent for saving their lives. "Their handling of the whole thing has been woeful."

The captain has only flown once and was told by cabin crew that his actions during the January flight had sparked criticism by a trainer on a course they had attended. They were told Burkill "froze" when the aircraft lost power.

But air investigators claimed he made a crucial wing adjustment that enabled the plane to clear the airport fence- saving the lives of everyone on board. The BA source said: "Pete called his manager and demanded that everyone be told exactly what happend in the cockpit that day. "He was told it would all be in the internal report and that he should stay home until it was published. "He's asked every week when it will be completed and keeps being told that it's imminent.

"It should have been finished weeks aho. It's a classic BA ***-up and their hero pilot is suffering.

"He's at home getting more and more depressed. He hasn't spoken to anyone at BA for a month and it seems they consider that to be an acceptable situation."

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