DEFIANT pilot Gordon Wilson today vowed to return to the skies just days after his microlight crashed to earth from 40ft.
Mr
Wilson emerged unscathed despite being trapped in the crumpled wreckage
of his £7,000 aircraft after it fell to earth during the Great North
Fly In at Eshott Airfield on Saturday.
The
50-year-old dad-of-two – who has more than a decade’s experience in the
cockpit – was airlifted to hospital following the crash in front of
hundreds of flight fans.
But while his passenger, a 30-year-old woman, suffered a broken arm, Ms Wilson suffered just cuts and bruises.
Gordon,
who lives with wife Yvonne, 51, a teaching assistant, in Appletree
Drive, Prudhoe, Northumberland, said: “I was coming in to land and there
was a helicopter in front of me. I flew into the turbulence and it
destroyed the lift. I just dropped out of the sky from about 40ft in the
air.
“It was just totally out of control and with the speed being so fast we just hit the floor. There was nothing I could do.”
Gordon, who has two sons, Gavin, 25, and Benjamin, 20, was training a 30-year-old female passenger at around 1.45pm on Saturday.
But
as the pair came into land the flexwing microlight was thrown into a
spin by the air currents from a helicopter that had just landed. The
aircraft was a write-off after it slammed into the ground and was left a
twisted wreck.
Gordon said: “We were out for a lesson, the lady
had around 14 hours of flying experience built up and she hadn’t flown
for a while, so we were having a lesson to familiarise her with the
aircraft again.
“The take-off and flight was fine, but when I
went to land the plane at Eshott there was a helicopter near the runway
and I got caught in the wake turbulence, it lifted the wing of our
aircraft and we plunged about 60 to 70ft down and tipped over.
“I
just got too close to it. I didn’t leave enough room between our plane
and the helicopter. It was a scary experience. It hasn’t put me off
flying again, but I’ll need a few days off.”
Following the crash,
the Air Accident Investigation Branch confirmed they were carrying out
an investigation to determine the exact circumstances surrounding the
crash.
Fire crews and ambulance paramedics attended the scene
after the crash and a Great North Air Ambulance helicopter was scrambled
to the scene to treat the injured.
Mr Wilson, an IT trainer at a
computer company in Wallsend, North Tyneside, said he was unfazed by
the experience and he would continue to take to the skies above
Northumberland.
He said: “We were trapped in the wreckage and I
was immobilised and airlifted to the RVI. I was training a passenger at
the time and she suffered a broken arm.
“I’m fine now but I was a
little bit shaken at the time. I keep replaying it in my mind. I got
some bruising down my right hand side to my ribs. I was scanned and
given an ultrasound but everything was fine.
“It’s a high-energy sport and you have to expect this sort of things but you learn from your mistakes.”
Mr
Wilson spent 16 years in the Army training recruits but during a diving
exercise in Cyprus, he suffered decompression sickness which meant he
was no longer able to continue as a diver.
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