A grandfather with no flying experience managed to land a light aircraft after the pilot collapsed at the controls. With his friend dying beside him, John Wildey, 77, flew solo for 70 minutes as he was talked down by an instructor. They told him to ignore most of the plane’s instruments and concentrate on using the joystick to keep its nose up. An RAF helicopter acted as an escort.After three abortive attempts, Mr Wildey made an ‘almost perfect’ landing in semi-darkness – and bashfully denied being a hero, saying his actions were ‘nothing really – I was just holding the joystick’. The pilot was taken to hospital but died later. Scroll down for video . The drama occurred after Mr Wildey – who served as a clerk in the RAF for 24 years but had never piloted a plane – and his friend had spent the day flying, as they had done many times before. They took off from Sandtoft Airfield, between Scunthorpe and Doncaster, in glorious sunshine on Tuesday morning and flew the Cessna 172 Skyhawk to Skegness, on the Lincolnshire coast, with a stop at a small airfield for lunch. They were due to return to Sandtoft shortly before 7pm. But at about 6.15pm, the pilot – whose name has not been released – fell seriously ill and began drifting in and out of consciousness. ‘He said he was sick and asked me to take care of the aircraft controls,’ Mr Wildey said. ‘He set the controls and put me on the right path. Then he was unwell again, completely unresponsive. I called his name but he didn’t answer. I said we were going to have to land soon but when he didn’t respond.’ Modest: John Wildey back on the ground yesterday (left) after landing the  plane safely at Humberside Airport. Mr Wildey is pictured (right) as a clerk in the RAF in 1968 . Touchdown: the  Cessna 172 Skyhawk, with which Mr Wildey made an 'almost perfect' landing in semi-darkness despite having never piloted a plane before . The Cessna 172 has dual controls, so Mr Wildey steadied the aircraft to the best of his abilities. He was wearing a headset linked to the plane’s radio and raised the alarm. ‘I called “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday” but forgot to give the registration of the plane,’ he said. ‘I said, “I’ve got no flying experience and the pilot isn’t very well”. I said he couldn’t control the aircraft. I said that I thought I was heading to Sandtoft. They said they were still trying to sort out what they could do for me. ‘They asked if I could circle round Sandtoft. I said I would try my best. I circled around Sandtoft a few times. The pilot was still conscious but clearly incapable of flying the plane. ‘I kept knocking him to try to get him to do something because I hadn’t a clue how to get down,’ Mr Wildey said. He had watched his friend bank, climb and descend using the steering column, and had a notion of what some of the baffling array of dials and instruments in front of him did. 'Remarkable job': Mr Wildey was forced to make an emergency landing at Humberside Airport, north Lincolnshire (pictured), after his friend the pilot was taken ill . Ground control: Flying instructor Roy Murray, who gave Mr Wildey step by . step instructions over the radio, is pictured in the cockpit of the . plane . He was put through to the tower at . Humberside International Airport, which has a longer landing strip and . full emergency services, and told to await instructions. Flights to and from Humberside were suspended or diverted as the runway was cleared for an emergency landing. A Sea King helicopter was scrambled from RAF Leconfield in East Yorkshire to fly alongside the Cessna to guide Mr Wildey on the 25-mile flight. Roy Murray, chief instructor at the airport’s Frank Morgan Flying School was called at his home in the Waltham, Lincolnshire. Route: Mr Wildey flew the Cessna from Sandtoft Airfield before touching down at Humberside Airport, in north Lincolnshire . He was told that a pilot had passed out and a passenger with no flying experience would need to be talked down. Fifteen minutes later, Mr Murray pulled up at the airport’s air traffic control tower and was taken straight to the radar room. ‘The . atmosphere was all calm, nobody was panicking and it was all very . professional,’ he said. He spoke to Mr Wildey, who was calm despite his . predicament. ‘I told him to keep calm and not to over-control the aircraft,’ he said. Mr Murray decided that the best option available was to guide Mr Wildey in with a ‘blind landing’, in which he was told to ignore the bulk of the instruments, and use just three main controls: the throttle to lower the plane, the steering column to keep its nose up – and the brakes to slow the plane down if and when he touched down successfully. ‘All cockpits and controls are different and I didn’t want John looking around and panicking. It was tense at times, especially the last mile or so, as he was talked in.’ At around 7pm, as it was getting dark, Mr Wildey, who had been following the Sea King helicopter, came into view of the control tower. Because the Cessna had been flying during the day he had no lights on outside or inside the cockpit. All Mr Murray could see was the outline of the plane against an darkening sky. As he explained how the plane worked and how Mr Wildey should land it, he stressed the need to keep the nose up when touching down to avoid smashing off the front landing wheel. In a calm voice, he went on to impress on the novice pilot the need to steer the vehicle when braking, in case it veered off to one side and struck a landing light. ‘If he had hit one the landing lights there could be a fuel leak with the risk of fire,’ Mr Murray said. ‘Thankfully, he was doing what I was telling him to do.’ On three nerve-racking occasions Mr Wildey tried to touch down, before pulling back on the steering column to lift the plane up again, increasing the throttle to avoid stalling and swinging round to make another attempt. A Sea King helicopter was scrambled from RAF Leconfield in East . Yorkshire to fly alongside the Cessna to guide Mr Wildey on the 25-mile . flight (file picture) Mayday: Moments before the pilot fell unconscious, a mayday call was sent and the emergency response was declared on the ground. Pictured is Humberside Airport . Each ‘go round’ was a terrifying . experience for pilot and those on the ground. Mr Wildey said: ‘I could . see the runway lights. They said, “bring her down gently, take the . throttle 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 three-quarter 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. Guardian angel: Air Traffic Control Manager Debbie Zost, who along with Flight instructor Roy Murray, helped Mr Wildey land . 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 indicator 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 landing, 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.’
John Wildey, 77, took control of the Cessna 172 Skyhawk light aircraft after his friend became ill .
He flew solo for 70 minutes from Sandtoft Airfield to Humberside Airport in north Lincolnshire .
With an instructor talking him through, Mr Wildey made an 'almost perfect' landing in semi-darkness .
A grandfather with no flying experience managed to land a light aircraft after the pilot collapsed at the controls. With his friend dying beside him, John Wildey, 77, flew solo for 70 minutes as he was talked down by an instructor. They told him to ignore most of the plane’s instruments and concentrate on using the joystick to keep its nose up. An RAF helicopter acted as an escort.After three abortive attempts, Mr Wildey made an ‘almost perfect’ landing in semi-darkness – and bashfully denied being a hero, saying his actions were ‘nothing really – I was just holding the joystick’. The pilot was taken to hospital but died later. Scroll down for video . The drama occurred after Mr Wildey – who served as a clerk in the RAF for 24 years but had never piloted a plane – and his friend had spent the day flying, as they had done many times before. They took off from Sandtoft Airfield, between Scunthorpe and Doncaster, in glorious sunshine on Tuesday morning and flew the Cessna 172 Skyhawk to Skegness, on the Lincolnshire coast, with a stop at a small airfield for lunch. They were due to return to Sandtoft shortly before 7pm. But at about 6.15pm, the pilot – whose name has not been released – fell seriously ill and began drifting in and out of consciousness. ‘He said he was sick and asked me to take care of the aircraft controls,’ Mr Wildey said. ‘He set the controls and put me on the right path. Then he was unwell again, completely unresponsive. I called his name but he didn’t answer. I said we were going to have to land soon but when he didn’t respond.’ Modest: John Wildey back on the ground yesterday (left) after landing the  plane safely at Humberside Airport. Mr Wildey is pictured (right) as a clerk in the RAF in 1968 . Touchdown: the Cessna 172 Skyhawk, with which Mr Wildey made an 'almost perfect' landing in semi-darkness despite having never piloted a plane before . The Cessna 172 has dual controls, so Mr Wildey steadied the aircraft to the best of his abilities. He was wearing a headset linked to the plane’s radio and raised the alarm. ‘I called “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday” but forgot to give the registration of the plane,’ he said. ‘I said, “I’ve got no flying experience and the pilot isn’t very well”. I said he couldn’t control the aircraft. I said that I thought I was heading to Sandtoft. They said they were still trying to sort out what they could do for me. ‘They asked if I could circle round Sandtoft. I said I would try my best. I circled around Sandtoft a few times. The pilot was still conscious but clearly incapable of flying the plane. ‘I kept knocking him to try to get him to do something because I hadn’t a clue how to get down,’ Mr Wildey said. He had watched his friend bank, climb and descend using the steering column, and had a notion of what some of the baffling array of dials and instruments in front of him did. 'Remarkable job': Mr Wildey was forced to make an emergency landing at Humberside Airport, north Lincolnshire (pictured), after his friend the pilot was taken ill . Ground control: Flying instructor Roy Murray, who gave Mr Wildey step by . step instructions over the radio, is pictured in the cockpit of the . plane . He was put through to the tower at . Humberside International Airport, which has a longer landing strip and . full emergency services, and told to await instructions. Flights to and from Humberside were suspended or diverted as the runway was cleared for an emergency landing. A Sea King helicopter was scrambled from RAF Leconfield in East Yorkshire to fly alongside the Cessna to guide Mr Wildey on the 25-mile flight. Roy Murray, chief instructor at the airport’s Frank Morgan Flying School was called at his home in the Waltham, Lincolnshire. Route: Mr Wildey flew the Cessna from Sandtoft Airfield before touching down at Humberside Airport, in north Lincolnshire . He was told that a pilot had passed out and a passenger with no flying experience would need to be talked down. Fifteen minutes later, Mr Murray pulled up at the airport’s air traffic control tower and was taken straight to the radar room. ‘The . atmosphere was all calm, nobody was panicking and it was all very . professional,’ he said. He spoke to Mr Wildey, who was calm despite his . predicament. ‘I told him to keep calm and not to over-control the aircraft,’ he said. Mr Murray decided that the best option available was to guide Mr Wildey in with a ‘blind landing’, in which he was told to ignore the bulk of the instruments, and use just three main controls: the throttle to lower the plane, the steering column to keep its nose up – and the brakes to slow the plane down if and when he touched down successfully. ‘All cockpits and controls are different and I didn’t want John looking around and panicking. It was tense at times, especially the last mile or so, as he was talked in.’ At around 7pm, as it was getting dark, Mr Wildey, who had been following the Sea King helicopter, came into view of the control tower. Because the Cessna had been flying during the day he had no lights on outside or inside the cockpit. All Mr Murray could see was the outline of the plane against an darkening sky. As he explained how the plane worked and how Mr Wildey should land it, he stressed the need to keep the nose up when touching down to avoid smashing off the front landing wheel. In a calm voice, he went on to impress on the novice pilot the need to steer the vehicle when braking, in case it veered off to one side and struck a landing light. ‘If he had hit one the landing lights there could be a fuel leak with the risk of fire,’ Mr Murray said. ‘Thankfully, he was doing what I was telling him to do.’ On three nerve-racking occasions Mr Wildey tried to touch down, before pulling back on the steering column to lift the plane up again, increasing the throttle to avoid stalling and swinging round to make another attempt. A Sea King helicopter was scrambled from RAF Leconfield in East . Yorkshire to fly alongside the Cessna to guide Mr Wildey on the 25-mile . flight (file picture) Mayday: Moments before the pilot fell unconscious, a mayday call was sent and the emergency response was declared on the ground. Pictured is Humberside Airport . Each ‘go round’ was a terrifying . experience for pilot and those on the ground. Mr Wildey said: ‘I could . see the runway lights. They said, “bring her down gently, take the . throttle 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 three-quarter 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. Guardian angel: Air Traffic Control Manager Debbie Zost, who along with Flight instructor Roy Murray, helped Mr Wildey land . 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 indicator 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 landing, 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.’
him, John Wildey, 77, flew solo for 70 minutes as made an ‘almost perfect’ landing in semi-darkness Cessna 172 Skyhawk, with which Mr Wildey made an Airport, north Lincolnshire (pictured), after his flew the Cessna from Sandtoft Airfield before touching down at Humberside Airport, in north