Air acrobat cheats death

Sep 5 2008 by Kevin Hughes, Chester Chronicle

Air acrobat cheats death

AN AIR acrobat managed to survive after he crashed upside down in a farmer’s field.

Competition pilot John Paulson, 56, of Manley Road, Frodsham, who has hundreds of hours of flight time, escaped with minor injuries after being dug out of the smash which destroyed his colourful French light plane.

Nigel Darlington runs Honkley Hall Farm, Wrexham, where the stricken plane crash landed in a farmers field after suffering fuel problems returning to Hawarden Airport at about 11am on Tuesday.

He was working in the field with co-worker Raymond Williams when the plane made an emergency landing.

He said: “We were working about 140 meters apart and he landed between us so we ran across to see what we could do. We were very surprised to find that he was alive, the biggest worry was fire, and I was worried about moving him in case he had any injuries.

“We had to break the canopy, to start with using our hands, and then I found a hammer in the tractor and ran back.

“I brought the tractor over and got the plough over to get underneath the wing.”

After being eased out from underneath the aircraft Mr Paulson told the farmers he was fine and miraculously had suffered no serious injuries.

Mr Paulson was taken to Wrexham Maelor hospital by ambulance but was later discharged.

A North Wales Fire Service spokeswoman said: “Two pumps and the emergency tender from Wrexham were sent along with a foam carrier from Deeside.

“When the first appliances arrived they found the aircraft had made an emergency landing in a field and had flipped over onto its roof.”

A Civil Aviation Authority spokesman said they expect a report to be submitted to the Air Accident Investigation Branch by the pilot in due course.