O piloto privado Jim O'Neill sofreu um derrame enquanto voava, a 15 mil pés (5.000 metros) de altitude.
Após um pedido de socorro via rádio, feito durante 40 minutos, um caça da RAF britânica guiou o pequeno avião até o campo de pouso de Full Sutton, próximo a York, Reino Unido.
Ele começou a ter problemas para enxergar os instrumentos a 5.500 pés e chamou o controle de vôo. Desceu até 2.200 pés, à medida que se aproximava da pista de Sutton, mas não conseguia vê-la, e foi deesviado para a base da RAF em Linton-on-Ouse, a 20 milhas de distância.
Um grupo da RAF foi despachado, em um Tucano T1encontrou-o e o guiou até o solo, após 45 minutos. Paul Gerrard, 42, comandante da esquadrilha, contou como, quando participava de um treinamento, foi em auxílio do piloto. Em determinado momento, Gerard estava voando ao lado de O'Neill, a apenas 500 pés de distância, dando-lhe instruções pelo rádio. à medida que O'Neill se aproximava da pista, em sua oitava e última tentativa, o comandante assegurou-lhe: Você está indo bem, segure as pontas, pode ver a pista? O'Neill pôde então descer com segurança. Pousar uma aeronave literalmente estando cego requer alguém que esteja lá, dizendo "um pouco à esquerda, à direita, pra baixo". "Na aproximação final, crucial, mesmo com auxílio-radar, é preciso estar visual; eis quando estar com um companheiro aviador era tão importante". O controlador de radar Richard Eggleton disse: " Eu tenho alguma experiência de vôo e já pilotei um planador. Estar lá em cima sozinho, sem visão, nem é bom pensar." Eggleton disse que estava em contato com o piloto em perigo e percebeu que ele ficava mais apreensivo à medida que o drama se desenrolava. "Era possível sentir a apreensão em sua voz pelo rádio e a frustração que ele sentia. Eu perguntava: "Você está visual?", e ele respondia: "Não, negativo", me desculpe." O'Neill, 65 anos, que tem 18 anos de experiência de vôo, disse ao Daily News, em sua cama no hospital: "Foi aterrorizante.
Você pode ouvir o áudio no link ao final desta postagem (em inglês).
Pilot Jim O'Neill suffered a stroke while flying at 15,000ft.
An RAF plane had to guide the light aircraft to safety after solo pilot Jim O'Neill put in a mayday alert 40 minutes into the flight and tried to land his plane at Full Sutton Airfield near York.
He began to have problems seeing his instruments at 5,500ft and asked air traffic control for help.
He dropped to about 2,000ft as he approached Full Sutton airfield, but was not able to see the airfield and was diverted to RAF Linton-on-Ouse 20 miles away.
An RAF team from nearby Linton-on-Ouse was scrambled and a Tucano T1 jet found the aircraft and guided it to the ground over a 45 minute period.
Paul Gerrard, 42, the wing commander, described how he was taking part in an RAF training sortie when he came to the pilot's aid.
At one point Gerrard was flying alongside O'Neill, just 500ft away, giving instructions over the radio.
As O'Neill approached the runway on his eighth and final attempt the Wing Commander reassured him, saying: "You are doing OK, carry on, can you see the runway?"
O'Neill was then able to put down safely after two bounces on the runway. He came to a halt at the very end of the runway where he was met by the emergency services.
"For me I was just glad to help a fellow aviator in distress. I was just part of a team," Gerrard said. "Landing an aircraft literally blind needs someone to be right there to say 'left a bit, right a bit, stop, down'.
"On the crucial final approach, even with radar assistance you need to take over visually. That's when having a fellow pilot there was so important."
Radar controller Richard Eggleton said: "I have had some experience of flying myself and I have been in a glider myself. Being up there on your own without sight - it doesn't bear thinking about."
Eggleton said he had been in regular contact with the stricken pilot and noticed that he became more apprehensive as the drama unfolded.
"You could hear the apprehension in his voice over the radio and the frustration he was experiencing. I kept saying 'Are you visual?' and he would reply 'No sir, negative, I'm sorry sir'. He kept on apologising."
O'Neill, 65, who has 18 years' flying experience, told the Daily Mirror from his bed at Queen's Hospital in Romford, Essex: "It was terrifying. Suddenly I couldn't see the dials in front of me. I should not be alive. I owe my life - and those of dozens of people I could have crash landed on - to the RAF."
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