A blind man who took the controls of an aircraft in a charity fundraising event said it was a “brilliant experience”.
Colin McArthur, 57, piloted a Britten-Norman Islander plane during a flight from Bembridge Airport, Isle of Wight. The trip follows a previous charity event which involved Mr McArthur controlling a 130-seat hovercraft. Mr McArthur, from Sandown, lost his eyesight through Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) 22 years ago and was raising money for the RP Fighting Blindness charity. Raise £1,000 The father-of-five said: “I have just come back down to earth with a bump – it was a brilliant experience. “It was a weird experience, I could feel the plane banking left and right and the pilot gave me a brilliant commentary as we flew out to sea and over the island.
“As a young lad of 14 I was partially-sighted and was at the Farnborough Air Show in the mid-1960s where the Islander was unveiled. It stole the show.”