Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes never fly together for fear of crash that would orphan their children



They are Hollywood royalty, and actress Kate Winslet and her director husband Sam Mendes also travel in the manner of royalty - separately in case they should ever be involved in an accident.



The couple never journey on the same plane as they fear dying in a crash and leaving their son, Joe, and Winslet's daughter from her first marriage, Mia, orphaned.



Both have suffered frightening air travel experiences that help explain their fears.

Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes, pictured at the Oscars in 2005, have both had frightening air experiences which means they don't fly together if they can help it

According to a friend, on 9/11 - September 11, 2001 - Mendes was originally booked on the ill-fated American Airlines flight 77 from Washington Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles.



The plane was hijacked by five Islamic terrorists after take-off and was crashed deliberately into the Pentagon, headquarters of the US Department of Defence in Virginia, killing all 64 people on board and 125 in the government building.



Fortuitously, Mendes's plans changed and he was not on the flight.



Black and white movie star: Kate arrives at the Santa Barbara Film Festival in California yesterday where she was honoured with an award

Later in the day he was at JFK Airport in New York and, as the horrors of the terrorist atrocity unfolded, his first reaction was to telephone Winslet.



Mendes, 43, has subsequently said that it was then that his relationship with the Titanic star 'went from being friends to something deeper'.



Limelight: Kate is interviewed in front of festival goers before she was presented with the award at the event at the Arlington Theatre, below



Meanwhile, Winslet, 33, would also suffer a terror scare.



In October 2001 she and Mia, her daughter by first husband Jim Threapleton, were flying from London to Dallas on a BA flight when they were caught in a terrifying mid-air incident.



A passenger claiming to be an Islamic terrorist stood up and screamed: 'We are all going to die.'



So hip: Kate was presented with the festival's Montecito Award in recognition of her film career

The outburst happened seven hours into the flight as the jet entered American airspace, visibly frighteningthe 194 passengers.



The pilot decided to land the plane immediately at nearby Toronto to have the man arrested.



Youri Kanounnikoff, 29, from France, was later charged with creating mischief, endangering life and uttering threats.



The ordeal is said to have taken its toll on Winslet - who still smokes cigarettes to combat her nerves - causing her to reassess much of her life.



Top of the bill: Actor Bill Nighy presented Kate with the award yesterday

She was divorced that year and within months her relationship with Mendes intensified. They were married in 2003.



The pair are now based in New York where they live with both children, but return to the UK frequently where they own a house in the Gloucestershire countryside.



The first project they have collaborated on as actress and director, Revolutionary Road, is released this week and is dedicated to Joe and Mia.



A spokesman for the couple said: 'Where possible, Kate and Sam do prefer to travel in separate planes.



'It is not always possible but, for obvious reasons regarding the children, they do travel separately when they can.'

Golden girl: Kate poses with her two Golden Globe awards that she received earlier this month for The Reader and for Revolutionary Road, directed by her Sam, right