By TERRI JUDD
Frankie Dettori, the jockey whose charm and easy banter has made him a national favourite, cut an emotional figure yesterday as he emerged from hospital.
He admitted that he had even considered giving up racing after narrowly escaping with his life from the air crash which killed his friend and pilot Patrick Mackey.
For once his trademark cheerfulness evaded him, as he spoke of the 15 seconds in which he closed his eyes and waited to die.
"I just thought, 'it is the end'," he explained.
Often close to tears, Dettori, 29, spoke as he left Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, in a wheelchair on what he called the "fifth day of my new life".
He said the crash from which he and fellow jockey Ray Cochrane, 42, had only just escaped had been "beyond scary". He did not want to fly in a light aircraft again, he added.
As he explained how lucky and surprised he felt to be alive, he paid tribute to the pilot who saved him.
"Patrick was a dear friend and great pilot for the last three years. We have lost him and it will always be on my mind. He gave me my life and Ray's. It is very hard to accept that."
The jockeys had been on their way to a meeting at Goodwood, Sussex, on Thursday when the plane developed problems shortly after take-off from a grass airfield at Newmarket racecourse.
Dettori recalled in detail how the twin-engined Piper Seneca veered sharply to the right and crashed just beyond a grass bank.
The two jockeys managed to scramble clear of the mangled wreckage, through a small baggage door, but the plane was engulfed in flames before anything could be done to save Mr Mackey.
"No words can describe the feeling of seeing somebody in a plane being burned and being helpless," he added quietly.
The young jockey broke his right ankle in the accident and had to have two screws inserted during an operation on Friday. He also suffered injuries to his thumb as well as cuts and bruises. Cochrane, who was burned and bruised across the face and chest, was also hospitalised but discharged on Saturday.
Dettori explained that his final words to Cochrane as the plane went down were: "We are going to die".
He added: "We were just waiting for the impact. Very scary. Beyond scary those last few seconds. You just close your eyes and wait for the crash.
"I must say I was very, very surprised to be alive. When it happened I just heard Ray shouting, 'get out, get out'. We tried to force the door but it was caved in. We searched with our eyes and we saw a little door in the back for the luggage.
"I scrambled my way out first and then Ray followed me. At that stage my face was cut to bits and I felt like I had lost my right eye because of the blood."
He said he remembered the engine in flames as he collapsed nearby.
"Ray was determined to get me away because he knew it was going to explode. While I was clearing my vision I could see him going back to the plane. Going absolutely insane. Taking his jacket off. Trying to fight the flames."
Dettori, who was returning to the home in Stechworth, Cambridgeshire, which he shares with his wife Catherine and eight-month-old son Leo, had been expected to be out of racing for three months.
But the jockey, who said he was worried the reality of the accident had yet to hit him, said he was planning to take "five minutes" to enjoy his life and family and later visit his family in Italy if doctors allowed.
"Racing is all I know and it has been all I want to do. But right now racing is not a priority in my life. I will go back into racing when I am ready.
"Like every other young man, I was very ambitious and I still am...But I stared death in the face for three seconds."
- INDEPENDENT
Racing: Frankie looks toward new life
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