A solo light aircraft pilot who went blind in mid-air after suffering a stroke at about 4,500m was shepherded in to land by a Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft.
Jim O’Neill, 65, was flying his four-seater Cessna over North Yorkshire on his flight home from a Scottish holiday to Essex in southern England when he lost his sight and put in a mayday alert. He tried to land at Full Sutton airfield near York, but was unable to complete the maneuver even with the help of air traffic controllers.
An RAF team from nearby Linton-on-Ouse was scrambled and a Tucano T1 plane piloted by Wing Commander Paul Gerrard took off to guide the aircraft to the ground. Kept calm by messages from Gerrard, O’Neill stayed at the Cessna controls after spiralling down to 450m.
With the instrument panel a blur, he failed four times to put down at Full Sutton and tried twice at RAF Linton-on-Ouse as the Cessna circled above York for 45 minutes before being escorted in.
Gerrard, who takes over next month as chief flying instructor at Linton, said: “Landing an aircraft literally blind needs someone to be right there to say ‘left a bit, right a bit, stop, down.’”
The RAF record of the two planes’ communication in the incident last Friday has Gerrard gently giving instructions to stay below the low cloud. Aircrew at the base said the Cessna had bounced heavily but stayed upright and ran to a halt before the grassy fringe of the long runway.
O’Neill, who has 18 years’ flying experience, is now in Queen’s hospital in Romford, Essex, where he seriously ill but stable. The stroke is believed to have caused blood at the back of his head to put pressure on his optic nerve.
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