The pilot who lost his sight
Discussion
Yes I heard it on the radio yesterday or the day before. He was around RAF Linton-on-Ouse near York when he lost his sight, due to a stroke I believe. The tower talked him round several circuits (presumably hoping his sight would at least paritally return) before eventually an instructor in a Tucano guided him down. Amazing to think that someone could land a plane blind, and fair play to the chap that did the guiding!
ETA: http://www.raf.mod.uk/raflintononouse/newsweather/...
ETA: http://www.raf.mod.uk/raflintononouse/newsweather/...
Edited by miniman on Sunday 9th November 17:08
So i don't really know how much of this story to believe.
tting.Flying blind isn’t as unusual as non pilots might at first assume.
Training to fly at night or in poor weather requires the ability to fly on instruments, while not being able to see outside the cockpit. Of course, he couldn’t see the instruments. But this information could be fed to him by the other pilot flying nearby and talking him down.
The great achievement is keeping his nerve in an extraordinarily stressful situation. But the consequence of not doing so tends to focus the mind.
IIRC, he isn’t the first to do this. On this Remembrance Sunday, let us not forget that several pilots have flown bind before. There were a number of reports of bomber pilots who had been blinded or had so much blood streaming down their faces that they were effectively blind.
For hours they kept crippled aircraft aloft, in terrible pain, wounded by shrapnel and burns. Aided by other crew members that were untrained as pilots, they found the field and landed. Sometimes their wounds were mortal, but they refused to give up until they had saved the lives of their crew.
Men with real guts.
Training to fly at night or in poor weather requires the ability to fly on instruments, while not being able to see outside the cockpit. Of course, he couldn’t see the instruments. But this information could be fed to him by the other pilot flying nearby and talking him down.
The great achievement is keeping his nerve in an extraordinarily stressful situation. But the consequence of not doing so tends to focus the mind.
IIRC, he isn’t the first to do this. On this Remembrance Sunday, let us not forget that several pilots have flown bind before. There were a number of reports of bomber pilots who had been blinded or had so much blood streaming down their faces that they were effectively blind.
For hours they kept crippled aircraft aloft, in terrible pain, wounded by shrapnel and burns. Aided by other crew members that were untrained as pilots, they found the field and landed. Sometimes their wounds were mortal, but they refused to give up until they had saved the lives of their crew.
Men with real guts.
Uncle Fester said:
Flying blind isn’t as unusual as non pilots might at first assume.
Training to fly at night or in poor weather requires the ability to fly on instruments, while not being able to see outside the cockpit. Of course, he couldn’t see the instruments. But this information could be fed to him by the other pilot flying nearby and talking him down.
Training to fly at night or in poor weather requires the ability to fly on instruments, while not being able to see outside the cockpit. Of course, he couldn’t see the instruments. But this information could be fed to him by the other pilot flying nearby and talking him down.
I can understand if he had a fair bit of experience that a nearby aircraft could talk him down, but he was apparently flying for 45 minutes before the aircraft intercepted him and made a couple of approaches completely blind?
b4rk3r said:
Uncle Fester said:
Flying blind isn’t as unusual as non pilots might at first assume.
Training to fly at night or in poor weather requires the ability to fly on instruments, while not being able to see outside the cockpit. Of course, he couldn’t see the instruments. But this information could be fed to him by the other pilot flying nearby and talking him down.
Training to fly at night or in poor weather requires the ability to fly on instruments, while not being able to see outside the cockpit. Of course, he couldn’t see the instruments. But this information could be fed to him by the other pilot flying nearby and talking him down.
I can understand if he had a fair bit of experience that a nearby aircraft could talk him down, but he was apparently flying for 45 minutes before the aircraft intercepted him and made a couple of approaches completely blind?
Air Traffic Control would be able to give some feedback based upon radar.
If you needed to turn this is done by time. Bank the wings the right amount and get the ATC to time you. You normally turn at a rate of 3 degrees per second, so 30 seconds gives you a 90 degree turn.
'Feel'goes a long way. If you can roughly make a 90 degree turn then it follows you can fly a square pattern around the field.
Alternatively, you can just go straight, provided you aren't heading out to sea. When the chase plane catches you then you go for the best field in the area.
The problem is that as you pass from one area to another, you change to the radio frequency of the new area. Tricky if you can't read the radio display.
You don't need to be that accurate. A few minutes straight and level.
Zad said:
Fixed wing aircraft are inherently stable aren't they? Set the throttle and, supposing the trim is somewhere near right, you can take your hands/feet off and it will find it's own altitude for straight and level flight.
Nope... you might be able to trim it for pitch but it'll soon enough roll to one side and as soon as it does it will move in all three planes and once that happens Sir Isaac Newton will have control ...Edited by john_p on Sunday 9th November 19:00
The pilot is a friend of mine and it is true unfortunately.
He did very, very well. No training can ever really prepare you for losing your sight whilst airborne. He's in hospital, getting better, but whether he gets his sight back is very much up for debate amongst the Docs.
It was a bang up job by everyone involved from ATC, James and the Tucano driver. I'm just glad there was a positive outcome. It could have turned into a fatal crash very, very easily.
He did very, very well. No training can ever really prepare you for losing your sight whilst airborne. He's in hospital, getting better, but whether he gets his sight back is very much up for debate amongst the Docs.
It was a bang up job by everyone involved from ATC, James and the Tucano driver. I'm just glad there was a positive outcome. It could have turned into a fatal crash very, very easily.
I have a book on emergency rescues, and in it there is a true story about someone who had never flown before, going up as a passenger in a small plane. The pilot had a heart attack and died instantly and the novice was talked down by the pilot of another aircraft who flew just behind him.
It's real enough - it was all over local TV news last week. In fact think I knew the guy - 20 years ago I had a client with the same name in the same town, and his age tallies too.
I liked the bit when the ATC said 'Can you see the runway now?'
I'd have replied 'Which bit of 'blind' are you not understanding, doh!'
I liked the bit when the ATC said 'Can you see the runway now?'
I'd have replied 'Which bit of 'blind' are you not understanding, doh!'
Edited by Simpo Two on Sunday 9th November 19:44
Uncle Fester said:
b4rk3r said:
Uncle Fester said:
Flying blind isn’t as unusual as non pilots might at first assume.
Training to fly at night or in poor weather requires the ability to fly on instruments, while not being able to see outside the cockpit. Of course, he couldn’t see the instruments. But this information could be fed to him by the other pilot flying nearby and talking him down.
Training to fly at night or in poor weather requires the ability to fly on instruments, while not being able to see outside the cockpit. Of course, he couldn’t see the instruments. But this information could be fed to him by the other pilot flying nearby and talking him down.
I can understand if he had a fair bit of experience that a nearby aircraft could talk him down, but he was apparently flying for 45 minutes before the aircraft intercepted him and made a couple of approaches completely blind?
Air Traffic Control would be able to give some feedback based upon radar.
If you needed to turn this is done by time. Bank the wings the right amount and get the ATC to time you. You normally turn at a rate of 3 degrees per second, so 30 seconds gives you a 90 degree turn.
'Feel'goes a long way. If you can roughly make a 90 degree turn then it follows you can fly a square pattern around the field.
level.
Now I'm not arguing just questioning
because i work in Air traffic and have a PPL so i can see it from both sides, but still cannot see how he managed, completely blind to judge his speed and attitude until the other aircraft met him.
By way of coincidence, there was a novel a good few years back that was written by a flying instructor along just such a theme. What makes it a coincidence is that the plane in question takes off from a northeast aerodrome and is flying over Linton or Leeming or one of the other bases around there when the pilot has a heart attack and flakes out, leaving the female passenger to scream and gibber into the radio until another plane can get up alongside and (effectively) teach her to fly.
I think they end up landing at Greenham Common though I forget why they fly so far south, although I do recall that the plane runs out of fuel and is heading for terra firma until it occurs to the escort pilot to tell the woman to switch the fuel tanks over.
It's been a long time but I think it was called 'Talkdown'.
I think they end up landing at Greenham Common though I forget why they fly so far south, although I do recall that the plane runs out of fuel and is heading for terra firma until it occurs to the escort pilot to tell the woman to switch the fuel tanks over.
It's been a long time but I think it was called 'Talkdown'.
Gassing Station | Boats, Planes & Trains | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff