Passenger Plane Makes Emergency Landing, UK

Dramatic footage emerges showing the moment a pensioner with no flying training lands a small plane after the pilot falls ill.

A video has been released showing an elderly passenger landing a small plane after the pilot had fallen sick.

The footage, taken by the RAF, shows the plane head rapidly downwards, hit the runway and skid on to grass before coming to a stop.

Plane fanatic John Wildey, 77, landed the four-seater Cessna at Humberside Airport in the dark without being able to see the instruments or the tarmac.

The footage shows how close Mr Wildey, who had never before been at the controls of a plane, came to being injured during the emergency landing.

The pensioner issued a mayday call on October 8 when the pilot, a friend of his 70s, fell unconscious as they flew back to Sandtoft Airfield, near Doncaster, from a day out in Skegness.

An RAF Sea King helicopter was scrambled to intercept the flight as Mr Wildey headed for the landmark Humber Bridge.

The helicopter crew tried to help him land at Humberside Airport before it got dark, but Mr Wildey, a great-grandfather, was unable to do so safely.

Air traffic controllers then called in a flying instructor who coaxed Mr Wildey down, despite hardly being able to see the plane.

It took several attempts and afterwards experts said he had been very lucky to have escaped unhurt.

He told Sky News soon after the landing: “They got me down and I bounced, and unfortunately it’s a bit heavy … I did almost a three wheel landing.

“They [air traffic controllers and the instructor] did all the work. I just held the controls and did what they told me.”