UN PASEO CON LOS BEATLES: Paul y Nancy salvan la vida de milagro

11 noviembre, 2012

Paul y Nancy salvan la vida de milagro

Terrible, horrible, Paul ha salvado la vida de milagro, que tragedia más grande ha podido ocurrir. Ayer Paul y Nancy volaban en un helicoptero en dirección a su granja en Sussex y debido al mal tiempo o ineficacia del piloto, ( aún no lo tengo claro) no se han estrellado de milagro. Conforme vaya enterandome de algo más, ya lo ire contando. Todo mi ánimo para Paul y su familia.

Paul McCartney and wife two feet from disaster in helicopter drama: Pilot forced into terrifying climb after brushing tree-tops

Sir Paul and his wife were flying in a £5million 9-seater Air Harrods helicopter

Pilot was not in control because of poor weather conditions

Following aborted landing at Sir Paul's estate, pilot landed at nearby airport

Air accident investigators have launched 'serious incident' probe

Near miss: Sir Paul and wife Nancy Shevell at the launch of Mary McCartney's cookbook just hours before the incident

Sir Paul McCartney and his wife were just two feet away from disaster when the pilot of their helicopter became ‘disorientated’ in bad weather and plunged towards trees.

They avoided a potentially fatal crash with just a split second to spare when the pilot dramatically lifted the chartered Sikorsky S-76C away from the rain-lashed tree tops.

The drama happened as the aircraft, with the couple on board, attempted to land at night on a helipad at their East Sussex estate.

The helicopter eventually touched down safely after diverting to a nearby airport.
It is understood that Sir Paul, 70, and his 52-year-old wife, Nancy Shevell – who have declined to comment about the incident – were unaware how close they came to crashing.

The near miss is being investigated by the Department of Transport. The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the Air Accidents Investigation Branch has categorised the episode as a ‘serious incident’, which it defines as ‘involving circumstances indicating that an accident nearly occurred’.

According to the AAIB report, the minimum reading from the helicopter’s altimeter – which measures height by focusing on a fixed point – was ‘two feet’. It is understood the fixed point was the tree tops rather than the ground.

In pulling hard away, the 55-year-old pilot was forced to put immense pressure on the engine, which can itself be dangerous.

The report also reveals flying conditions that night included ‘low cloudbase, poor visibility and rain’.

Despite this, the pilot pressed ahead and prepared to land on the former Beatle’s helipad, which is in the corner of a field encircled by woodland.

It adds: ‘While manoeuvring, the commander became disorientated and the helicopter descended towards tops of trees in the forested area to the south and west of the landing site.’ The pilot then ‘executed a go-around’ or aborted landing.

The £5 million nine-seater helicopter, which weighs 5.3 tons, was chartered from Air Harrods, which describes itself as the ‘leading London-based business aviation service provider’. The firm counts Tony Blair among its clients and charges around £3,000 an hour.

Earlier in the evening, the couple had been to the Liberty department store in the West End for the launch of a vegetarian cookbook written by Sir Paul’s eldest daughter Mary.

They took off from Battersea heliport in South London at 9.30pm, reaching East Sussex 25 minutes later.