A STRICKEN aircraft pilot was talked to the ground in a daring rescue after he suddenly went blind.

Jim O’Neill, 65, is thought to have suffered a stroke as he flew his twoseater Cessna at 15,000ft above North Yorkshire.

But he was safely brought back to earth by an RAF pilot returning from a training sortie backed by the air traffic control team at Linton-on- Ouse, near York.

Mr O’Neill said: “I should not be alive. I owe my life – and those of dozens of people I could have crash-landed on – to the RAF.”

The drama unfolded a week ago when Mr O’Neill, a pilot for 18 years, was 40 minutes into a flight from Glasgow to his home county of Essex.

After he was blinded, he declared an emergency, at first believing he had been dazzled by the sun.

RAF Linton’s air traffic control team first tried to guide him down to the airfield at Full Sutton, near York, but that proved impossible.

Wing Commander Paul Gerrard, at the controls of one of the base’s Tucanos, was sent to the rescue.

Radar operators talked him to within a few metres of the Cessna, allowing the instructor to act as a “shepherd” pilot.

Then, weaving in the air to stay with the much slower aircraft, the RAF pilot talked Mr O’Neill every inch of the way back to the ground at Linton.

Using basic commands, he was able to guide Mr O’Neill to the runway, even telling him when to lower the nose, and by how much, on the critical final approach.

The Cessna approached and finally touched down, only to bounce back into the air. On its second touchdown, the aircraft again bounced before it finally landed on the third attempt, with only metres to spare.

Wing Cdr Gerrard said: “I was just glad to help a fellow aviator in distress.

“I was just part of a team. Landing an aircraft literally blind needs someone to be right there to say left a bit, right a bit, stop, down.

“On the crucial final approach, even with radar assistance, you need to take over visually. That is when having a fellow pilot there was so important.”

Mr O’Neill was taken to hospital, where he is still being treated in a brain unit.

Air Traffic Control officer Terry O’Brien, 58, praised the 12-strong team involved in the rescue.

He said: “My heart was in my mouth, certainly but, at the end of the day, we successfully got him down.

“There was elation and relief, but it was a superb team effort. The whole team were cool, calm and collected. It was a cracking team effort.”

Radar controller Richard Eggleton, who was involved in the drama, said: “I have had some experience of flying myself.

Being up there on your own without sight – it does not bear thinking about.”

“You could hear the apprehension in his voice over the radio.”