This is wonderful and incredible.
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From: "Pradeep banakar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
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Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 11:42 AM
Subject: [AI] Blind pilot guided to land by British air force
Thaindian News
London, Nov 7 (DPA) A light aircraft pilot, who was blinded by a stroke
while flying, was guided to a safe landing by Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots
giving instructions over the radio as they flew alongside him, the BBC
reported Friday.Jim O'Neill, 65, was flying his two-seater Cessna light
aircraft at 4,572 metres en route from Scotland to Colchester, in
southeast England, on Oct 31 when he suddenly went blind.
RAF Wing Commander Paul Gerrard, chief flying instructor, scrambled his
Tucano T1 training aircraft from a base in Yorkshire, in northern England,
and flew it to within about 50 metres of the Cessna and talked O'Neill
safely down by issuing instructions over the radio.
"He used his voice to guide (O'Neill) down by telling him to turn left and
right, to lower the plane and to do his pre-landing checks," said Wing
Commander Andy Hynd, who assisted.
"At very short range he still couldn't see the runway and it was only at
the last minute that he could. He landed about halfway down and came to a
halt just at the end."
"The RAF routinely practices shepherding but we are usually shepherding
lost aircraft, we are not used to shepherding blind pilots, which is what
makes this amazing," said Gerrard.
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