Lding the joystick

back.” And I was doing that and it seemed to be all right but then they said I was going too low, power up and go, so I powered up and went round again.’

The airstrip is one and threequarter miles long and, if everything went to plan, he was due to land at a speed of about 80 to 90mph.

The runway length, Mr Murray thought, should give Mr Wildey plenty of time to brake.

On the fourth attempt, he was given the go-ahead but it was still far from plain- sailing, Mr Wildey said. ‘I know you bring back the controls but I didn’t bring them back hard enough. So really I was sort of nose down rather than anything else,’ the father of three said yesterday.

‘Then we touched and there was a right bump – two or three bumps. I suppose it was a controlled crash really.

‘But I just couldn’t get the brakes because I couldn’t reach them. I managed to get them in the end.

‘But then we sort of went off the runway and all I could see was this runway i ndicator wall coming towards me and I thought: “I am not going to do it”. But we managed to stop in the end.’

Experts said the l anding, at 7.30pm, was ‘almost perfect’.

Stuart Sykes, who saw the aircraft land, said: ‘It came down with a bump, a bump, a bump, hit the front end down, I heard some crashing and it’s come to a halt.’

Others said they saw sparks as it touched down.

Mr Murray said: ‘The emergency services were there immediately and may have turned off the engine. When he landed, we all sort of shook hands and said “Thank God for that”.’ Miraculously, Mr Wildey emerged from the aircraft shaken but uninjured. An ambulance took the dying pilot to hospital.

Mr Murray said: ‘I’m satisfied but sad. There was a death involved. But, I’m satisfied because it could have been a lot worse.

‘But, I can say that I wouldn’t be frightened to fly with John. He was very calm and in control.’

Mr Wildey was described yesterday as a ‘ hero’ for having kept his nerve during the traumatic incident. But speaking from his home in Rossington, South Yorkshire, he played down his role as ‘ nothing really’.

He was simply the man holding the control stick, he said.

Mr Wildey told his local BBC television station: ‘Air traffic control at Humberside, two flying instructors, and also a Sea King helicopter were all helping.

‘They all did their best, I was just the person holding the stick. They were telling me what to do but because I didn’t have any lights on I could barely see any of the sticks, which made it even more difficult.’