A FORMER pilot yesterday told a judge how he suffered disabling neck injuries when his flying instructor pulled a sudden "five-G" turn without warning as he overflew his parents' home during a training mission.

Paul Hanks ,who has now left the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm due to his injuries, said the lack of warning from his pilot instructor left him with no opportunity to brace himself for the heavy G-force created by the turn, causing spinal damage which only became apparent 18 months later.

Mr Hanks, 32, of Shotwick Park, Seahill Road, Saughall, Chester, told the High Court in London, that the surprise manoeuvre came during a training "sortie" from elite jet pilot training base, RAF Valley, in Anglesey, in August 2000, minutes after he opted to return to base due to shortness of fuel and began to climb for altitude.

The trainee had to relinquish control as his instructor took over in the ascent, and was "craning forward" to check his fuel charts when taken aback by the force of the turn, Mr Hanks told Deputy Judge Andrew Edis QC.

There was a wrenching "rapid roll to the left" which caused a similar "rapid increase in G-force" in the "aggressive turn", said Mr Hanks, who added: "As I strained against it I felt a kind of popping sensation in my spine, I was in a great deal of pain at the time".

Mr Hanks said a "substantial amount of G" was involved, which he put as far more than the standard two or three-G pull exerted in some training flights.

Because no warning was given by his instructor he had no chance to brace his neck to withstand the pressure, he told the court. His counsel, Simon King, asked Mr Hanks to confirm that he had received no pre-turn warning, to which he replied: "No, if I had I would have been more upright. If I'd been briefed I would not have been in the position I was in".

Mr Hanks, is making a six-figure compensation claim against the Ministry of Defence over the instructor's alleged negligence in failing to warn about the imminent powerful turn, said to have been made over his parents' home in Worcester.

The MOD denies all blame in the case.

Mr Hanks, a first class honours graduate, who performed top in his Fleet Air Arm training group --went on to gain his coveted Royal Navy wings, but was eventually grounded due to the effects of his injuries, the court was told.

Mr King said the neck damage did not in itself represent "the most serious of injuries" to come before the court.

"But it had a devastating effect on his aspirations," he said.. After years of protracted medical treatment and repeated attempts to return to regular flying, he was finally deemed unfit to fly fast jets, said Mr King.

Mr Hanks told the court that his first reaction after the gravity pull "relaxed" was to ask his instructor "what the hell he was doing - or words to that effect".

"I said that I had cricked my neck and he said that he had been flying over his parents' house,, or near it," said Mr Hanks.

Mr Hanks said his reaction to the instructor's move was not hostile, explaining: "I wasn't accusing him of being aggressive towards me, it was more a kind of banter as in, 'cheers mate, thanks a lot - that hurt'".

He said relations between himself and the instructor were generally cordial and "relaxed", particularly given the close age gap between them.

Asked why he delayed two years before complaining about the incident Mr Hanks said that, at the time, he had no wish to "snitch on a colleague", particularly since it took 18 months for him to learn the extent of the spinal damage.

"Initially I thought it was just a cricked neck," he explained.

The case continues.