[il-talk] Blinded Pilot Guided safely to ground

[Deborah Kent Stein]

This *is* amazing - like something out of an action thriller or a Daredevil 
comic!

Debbie S.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Wright" <gymnastdave at sbcglobal.net>
To: "NFB of Illinois Mailing List" <il-talk at nfbnet.org>; "Illinois 
Association of Blind Students List" <iabs-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 1:02 AM
Subject: [il-talk] Blinded Pilot Guided safely to ground


> Hey there all,
> I don't mean to clog up the list with potentially off-topic posts, but 
> wow, this is an amazing story.
>
>
> 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.''
>
>
>
> Best Regards:
> David Wright
>
> Email: dwrigh6 at uic.edu
> Mobile: 832-518-0707
>
> http://www.knfbreader.com
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