Blind pilot guided in to land by RAF

WildGoose · White Van Man Joined: 21 Mar 2002 Karma :

https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/7715345.stm

The guy has a stroke in mid air and loses his sight.

Pretty inspiring stuff really Thumbs Up

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Chriss · World Chat Champion Joined: 07 May 2005 Karma :

I'd love to know the details, yet when I phoned Linton, even they didn't know much! Laughing

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Robby · Dirty Old Man Joined: 16 May 2002 Karma :

It's an impressive bit of guiding, and a more impressive bit of flying.

When you're learning to fly, one of the lessons is to wear a hood so you can't see anything, while the instructor performs some "unusual maneuvers". You then raise the hood so you can see just the instruments, and attempt to return the aircraft to straight and level flight on a set bearing.

Surprisingly difficult. You can't trust your sense of balance after the first couple of turns.

The other one was during night flying - solo. Imagine a group of trainee pilots, solo at night, flying up to a bar in Florida. Not a responsible bunch. One of the guys decided to fly 4 or 5 miles out to sea, to see what it was like, then turn around to come back. He didn't realise he was upside down until his bag hit the roof.

So yeah, flying 50 miles and then landing, blind. Impressive, you'd want a very long runway, and a very skilled pilot behind you saying what your plane is doing.

Chriss · World Chat Champion Joined: 07 May 2005 Karma :

Robby · Dirty Old Man Joined: 16 May 2002 Karma :

Are you a controller then?

Useful to finding yourself and a bearing, but a controller isn't going to know if your wings are level, and their information on your climb/descent is limited by radar refresh speed.

Chriss · World Chat Champion Joined: 07 May 2005 Karma :

moonym20 · Could Be A Chat Bot Joined: 12 Jun 2002 Karma :

Is a very interesting story, no one was on duty at full sutton when they tried to get him in there, they passed him through the overhead a couple of times with no joy, i understand a Tucano was then dispatched from a training sortie to shepard the guy towards linton, i still have no idea on what his sight was like, i presume it was deminished as apose to completely gone Shocked

good job though made a good story at the bonfire on the airfield last night Thumbs Up

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