Blinded Pilot Guided Safely to Ground >> By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS >> Filed at 7:42 p.m. ET >> >> LONDON (AP) -- A British pilot who was suddenly blinded by a stroke >> during a >> solo flight was talked safely down by a military pilot, the Royal Air >> Force >> said Friday. >> >> Jim O'Neill asked for help after he was went blind 40 minutes into a >> flight >> from Scotland to southeastern England last week. The BBC reported that >> O'Neill, flying a small Cessna aircraft, lost his sight 5,500 feet in the >> air. >> >> ''It was terrifying,'' O'Neill said. ''Suddenly, I couldn't see the dials >> in >> front of me.'' >> >> The air force said in a news release that O'Neill initially believed he'd >> been ''dazzled'' by bright sunlight, and made an emergency call for help. >> He >> then realized that something more serious was happening, and said, ''I >> want >> to land, ASAP.'' >> >> RAF Wing Commander Paul Gerrard was just finishing a training flight >> nearby >> and was drafted in to help the stricken pilot. >> >> Gerrard located the plane, began flying close to it and radioed >> directions. >> >> ''For me, I was just glad to help a fellow aviator in distress,'' he >> said. >> >> ''Landing an aircraft literally blind needs someone to be right there to >> say >> 'Left a bit, right a bit, stop, down,''' Gerrard said. ''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. >> >> O'Neill's son, Douglas, said his father is an experienced pilot who has >> flown for nearly two decades. The 65-year-old is recovering in hospital >> where he is beginning to regain his sight. >> >> ''The doctors have confirmed that he suffered a stroke from a blood clot, >> but he doesn't seem to have suffered any other ill-effects apart from >> losing >> his sight,'' Douglas O'Neill said. ''He says he went blind very suddenly >> and >> then, once he'd got over the shock, was able to distinguish a bit of >> darkness and light.'' >> >> In a recording posted to the BBC's news Web site, Gerrard gives O'Neill >> instructions -- ''a gentle right hand turn, please,'' is called for at >> one >> point -- and he can be heard apologizing. >> >> ''You could hear the apprehension in his voice over the radio and the >> frustration he was experiencing,'' said radar controller Richard >> Eggleton. >> ''I kept saying 'Are you visual?' and he would reply 'No sir, negative, >> I'm >> sorry sir.' He kept on apologizing. >> >> With Gerrard talking him down, O'Neill's plane hit the runway and bounced >> up >> again, the RAF said. It did the same on the second touchdown. On the >> third, >> O'Neill was able to keep his plane on the ground. >> >> ''It's one of those things you might hear about happening in some sort of >> all-action film but it's hard to believe what they did,'' Douglas O'Neill >> said of the RAF. ''They were just tremendous.''
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