Cockpit hero, 77 hailed after he lands plane as pilot collapses

John Wildey was described as “nothing short of a hero” after pulling off the miraculous feat at Humberside Airport.

He had never flown a plane before and landed in the dark with no lights at the fourth attempt, having been talked down by air traffic control operators, two flying instructors, and with the aid of an RAF Sea King rescue helicopter sent in to help him find the runway.

But there was also sadness as the pilot, who had fallen unconscious in the cockpit, was later pronounced dead.

Mr Wildey, 77, said he touched down with “a right bump”, and it was more like a “controlled crash, really”, while witnesses described seeing sparks as the aircraft landed at 7.30pm on Tuesday.

The mid-air drama began at about 6.20pm when the pilot became ill during their flight back from Skegness. The pilot put the plane on the right path but then collapsed, leaving Mr Wildey with little option but try to land the plane himself, despite, he admitted, having no “clue what to do to get down”.

Speaking with his feet firmly on the ground after walking away unhurt, Mr Wildey said he thought he was going to run into a wall as he struggled to reach the brakes to stop the aircraft.

“Now I know you bring back the controls, but I didn’t bring them back hard enough, so really I was just sort of nose down rather than anything else.

“We touched and then there was a right bump – two or three bumps. I suppose it was a controlled crash really and then I just couldn’t get the brakes because I couldn’t reach them.”

Mr Wildey said he began to veer off the runway as he was attempting to reach the brakes and could see a wall rapidly approaching. “I thought ‘I ain’t going to do it’, but we managed to stop in the end.”

The aircraft, a Cessna 172, only suffered minor damage to its nose wheel and propeller. It was heading back to its base at Sandtoft airfield, near Doncaster, when the mayday call came through.

Flight instructor Roy Murray, who guided Mr Wildey through the manoeuvre, described it as a “beautiful landing”.

Asked how he felt, he said: “Ecstatic. Very relieved but also sad.”

Mr Murray, chief instructor at the Frank Morgan School of Flying said he had never heard of an incident like it in the UK.

He was called at his home near Grimsby at 6.25pm and went to the airport where the decision was taken to use the main runway, which was “lit up like a Christmas tree”.

“I took him round three times, which were reasonable but not good enough to land,” the instructor said. “Then, on the fourth, he made a nice landing.”

Mr Murray said the atmosphere in the control tower was tense and there were handshakes but no cheers when the plane touched down.

“It was tense at times, especially the last mile or so,” he said. “We couldn’t see any lights on him.

“It was just a silhouette in the dark. We just had to judge he was the right height and the right speed, which he was. All due respect.”

Mr Murray said the stand-in pilot seemed “quite calm”.

“He said he had a dry mouth, as we all had. But he’s done a good job,” he added.

A Sea King helicopter from RAF Leconfield was brought in to help Mr Wildey find the airport and runway.

Aircraft owner Matthew Fox said: “It would be nigh on impossible for someone who has never had any tuition to do what he did.”

He added the passenger’s job was more difficult, even if he’d had lights, as he was not in the pilot’s seat.

“You have dual controls but the instruments like air speed and height are on the pilot’s side. The visual aids are not in front of you.”

Richard Tomlinson, a friend of both men, said: “For somebody who is not a pilot but has been around airfields and been a passenger on several occasions, to take control is nothing short of phenomenal. The man is nothing short of a hero.”

Mr Tomlinson said pilot had been very experienced.

He added: “Only this week I was sat having a cup of tea and airfield banter (with both men). They were both very funny gentlemen to have a conversation with. It is very, very sad news.”