The mangled man on his flying machine takes off again after breaking his ankle shoulder, wrist, back (twice) and hip
Crocked but undaunted, intrepid adventurer is back in the skies
Frequent flyer John Newton has told of his delight at getting back in the air after his latest break.
Even after fracturing many bones, it seems there is little to keep his feet on the ground – unless he’s dancing the tango.
The Dundee Tango Society instructor is one of about 40 people in Scotland to have taken up the burgeoning sport of paramotoring, having first taken to the skies in a paraglider in 1989.
John, who lives in Aberdeen and also snowboards, skis and rides a motorbike, has twice broken his back, along with his shoulder, ankle and wrist. But he revealed his most recent accident – in which he shattered his hip last summer while paragliding in Spain – has changed his life.
The 57-year-old – who travels to Argentina every year to dance the tango – had to be flown home for an emergency hip replacement at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. And he has only just taken to the skies again in a specially adapted paramotor.
Reliving his ordeal, the NHS adolescent mental health clinician said: “It was the second last day of the holiday.
“I was coming into land when the rain started. I hit some bad air, slewed left and impacted the ground fracturing my hip.”
He then spent 11 days in a Spanish hospital before finally being flown home by his insurance company for the hip replacement operation.
John said: “That accident did for a time make me think that I would never fly again. I knew it wasn’t life- threatening but it was life-changing.”
The indomitable adventurer – who first broke his back in a skiing accident aged 19, followed by the second break in 2012 when his paraglider crashed into an Aberdeenshire hillside – credits the
medical teams and his fellow paramotorists, pioneer Gordon Robertson ,55, from St Combs, and instructor Paolo Belleze of the SkyCamp school near Aberdeen, for helping him back into the sky.
He said: “I had great treatment at the hospital and I am a very determined person.
“It was great to be walking again and then I started dancing with crutches. I started with two crutches, then one, then with a walking stick and then no walking stick.
“I had to be ready to dance in Buenos Aires in November and I was.”
This year’s fine spring weather brought with it a chance to finally take to the sky again.
John said: “Paolo got all the equipment together that would be suitable for me, and Gordon was very supportive in doing the trial flight.
“There is pretty much nothing that will keep me from flying or dancing unless I am six feet under.”