People in the news.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

POP STAR'S CRASH SCARE:

British pop star Bryan Ferry was among the 379 passengers of the British Airways 747 that nearly crashed when a crazed man broke into the cockpit on a flight to Kenya last week, Wall of Sound reports. Ferry, his wife, Lucy Helmore, and two of their sons were on board the plane for a New Year holiday on the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar and were sleeping when the plane started reeling and diving as the suspect grabbed at the cockpit controls.

``I have done a lot of plane flights in my life, but this is the most eventful,'' Ferry said after taking another flight to the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam. ``I was very frightened, but I'm very relieved to be here on dry land.''

When asked if she thought they were about to die, Helmore simply said, ``Yes.''

She said she tried to look after her children as the plane went into a dive: ``I was trying to keep them calm because they were very frightened.''

Ferry, 55, said he was sleeping when the drama began: ``I woke up thinking we were going through some bad turbulence, but I think we were on the third dip when I really thought about what was really happening.''

The suspect, a Kenyan man who police believe was mentally disturbed, was apprehended by cabin crew and some of the passengers after a violent struggle.