Scott
11-08-2008, 05:59 AM
A pilot who lost his sight at 15,000 feet miraculously survived after he was dramatically guided down by an RAF plane scrambled to rescue him.
Jim O'Neill, 65, was alone and seemingly helpless in the cockpit when he suffered a mid-flight stroke at the controls of his four-seater Cessna plane.
Unable to see he radioed a mayday alert. Air traffic controllers launched an emergency operation and attempted to guide him to a nearby airfield.
But so catastrophic was his loss of vision that it proved to be an impossible task. Within minutes an RAF Tucano was alongside the stricken pilot.
Having established radio contact Mr O'Neill was then given a series of instructions in a bid to direct him the 15 miles to another air strip where he would land.
Link (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1083869/Pilot-went-blind-mid-air-talked-safe-landing-crew-scrambled-RAF-plane.html)
He never saw that one coming.
Jim O'Neill, 65, was alone and seemingly helpless in the cockpit when he suffered a mid-flight stroke at the controls of his four-seater Cessna plane.
Unable to see he radioed a mayday alert. Air traffic controllers launched an emergency operation and attempted to guide him to a nearby airfield.
But so catastrophic was his loss of vision that it proved to be an impossible task. Within minutes an RAF Tucano was alongside the stricken pilot.
Having established radio contact Mr O'Neill was then given a series of instructions in a bid to direct him the 15 miles to another air strip where he would land.
Link (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1083869/Pilot-went-blind-mid-air-talked-safe-landing-crew-scrambled-RAF-plane.html)
He never saw that one coming.