Pilot Loses Vision While Flying But Lands Safely Guided By RAF Plane

November 8, 2008 6:29 a.m. EST

London, U.K. (AHN) - A British pilot has avoided a fatal crash after going blind while flying his small plane over England as a Royal Air Force (RAF) plane and pilot guided him to a safe landing.

Businessman Jim O'Neill, 65, revealed his death defying ordeal from his hospital bed in Romford, East London Friday and thanked the RAF for saving his life. He is recuperating from the temporary blindness caused by the swelling of a blood vessel in his eyes due to a stroke.

The stroke happened last Friday while O'Neill was aboard his four-seater Cessna at 15,000 feet heading home to Earls Colne airbase in Colchester, Essex after taking off from Glasgow Prestwick airport following a family holiday in Scotland. With his vision blurred, O'Neill sent a mayday alert so he could land.

Linton air traffic controllers responded and realizing O'Neill's condition, called a nearby RAF Tucano piloted by RAF Wing Commander and former Tornado display pilot, Paul Gerrard, 42.

Gerrard flew alongside the Cessna and acted as O'Neill's eyes until the blind pilot landed his plane on the runway of the Linton-on-Ouse airfield in North Yorkshire. O'Neill and Gerrard failed in three attempts to land but touched down in the fourth try.