Episode 21 Helicopter Heroes

If you're critically ill or seriously injured, seconds count.

And in Britain's biggest county you can be a long way from help.

'She's stuck under the car!'

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance flies at 150mph and thanks to its speed, hundreds of patients are alive now,

saved by a highly-skilled team of doctors and paramedics.

Stand clear!

It covers some of the UK's most rugged landscapes,

-turning roadsides into operating theatres.

-We'll pop him off to sleep.

And town centres into helipads.

- On the left? - Just behind you, Tim.

And every day the helimed team's skill, speed and courage is saving lives.

Today on Helicopter Heroes.

Are you able to sit forward?

A train driver collapses, but his passengers are nurses.

It just came to a sudden halt. We flew forward in the seats.

The mystery of the cyclist found lying in the road.

Prepare aircraft for a rapid transfer of a patient with severe head injury.

Flood waters hamper an emergency rescue.

It's like Yorkshire and Atlantis.

And a hot air balloon ride ends in a crash landing.

We just landed very, very heavily.

Train drivers are responsible for the safety of hundreds of passengers,

but what happens when they are hit by a critical illness? The crew of Helimed 99 is about to find out.

18 minutes en route, OK?

-18 minutes.

-Yeah.

Between Scarborough and the market town of Malton, the driver of a Trans-Pennine Express

-is fighting for his life.

-The driver has stopped the train and raised the alarm.

A train coming the opposite way has stopped and the driver has got out to be able to help him.

'99, roger. I've spoken to Network Rail. They cannot confirm anything else will not be coming past.

'I've appraised them that you will be landing in a field next to the train. Over.'

Ground paramedics have already confirmed driver David Graham is suffering a heart attack,

-but he's a long way from hospital.

-They have a medical every year.

Or every six months. They're very well looked after, I think now.

All trains have failsafe brakes, the so-called "dead man's handle",

and the 9.30 from Scarborough to Liverpool came to a halt safely.

-Hi, pal. How's it going?

-We've got a 50-year-old male...

Is it easier to get round the other side? I'll come up t'side here.

Driver David has reason to be glad for one group of ticket holders.

A party of nurses returning from a mini-break quickly responded to appeals from the train's guard.

The guard said was there any nurses, paramedics on the train.

So about seven of us ran along the train!

-Hello, Dave.

-He's 50. Driver of the train.

Sudden onset of central chest pain to his jaw and down his left arm.

Paramedics are struggling to treat David on the floor of his cramped cab.

-He's in agony from crushing chest pains.

-If he's scoring nine,

get him a bit comfortable and then we'll work out how to get him there.

It's come out of the blue.

He contacted the guard to let him know there was something wrong.

That's how he found him like he was, so to speak.

Passengers are kept informed of the emergency in the cab.

'We're taking the driver from the train and should be clear to move on.

'Thank you very much for your patience and your understanding.'

For his medical helpers, it was an unexpected end to a seaside trip.

The five of us were on a weekend away!

So BP's all right, pulse rate is absolutely fine.

The team now faces a major problem - how to get David off the train.

The doors are nearly two metres off the ground and the train's come to a halt on an embankment.

They're going to need help to get their patient down to Helimed 99.

It's difficult to get him off without any type of proper steps. We don't want to be walking him.

So we'll use this board to lay him on and bring him off on it.

We'll need help with some hands, so we've asked the Fire Service.

-Have we got an aspirin?

-An old-fashioned remedy is still vital for heart patients.

Are you able to sit forward? I want to give you this aspirin to take.

Aspirin will thin David's blood and reduce the risks of further clots in his heart.

Just chew it as best you can and then swallow. It's important.

At last, a local fire crew arrives to help remove David.

He'd just returned to work from holiday and has always passed his railway medical with flying colours.

Shall we just get him back? We'll just be a couple of minutes.

These pads will allow the paramedics to shock David's heart back into a normal rhythm

if he goes into cardiac arrest.

-There's his jacket with all his personal belongings.

-That's his ID.

-And his mobile.

For the off-duty nurses, there's relief their patient is almost ready for take off.

OK, David, nearly ready to go.

Dave, I'm one of the girls who was looking after you. Goodbye and take care, all right?

-I hope everything's...

-Thanks.

-OK. I hope everything goes all right.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome, pet.

Going to slide to your right, all right?

The patient's heart is under terrible strain.

He's on his way to a cardiac unit 30 miles away in Hull,

but the team knows David's survival is far from certain.

One of the first things accident victims want to know is how their injury happened.

Usually there's a police officer or a witness they can ask,

but in a hit and run crash, the patient often has to accept he will never know who was responsible.

The village of Cawood in North Yorkshire is at the centre of a mystery. On the main road,

-a man lies badly injured.

-We think it's a cyclist that has come a cropper

on one of the back roads out towards Cawood, which is a small village near Selby.

We've got an RRV on the scene

dealing with this patient.

No one knows who the man is or how the accident happened.

It's only by chance a passer-by spotted him in the road.

I came round the corner. The road was clear both ways. In the distance, I saw an obstruction in the road.

By the time I got up to it, I could see he was distressed with the cycle on top of him.

I flagged the car behind me and said to phone for an ambulance.

Then within what seemed to be seconds, people came running.

Ground crews are already on scene and working quickly

to prepare the man for flight.

Their assessment suggests he'll be lucky to survive.

The Glasgow Coma Scale is a measure of the level of consciousness on a patient

with regards to his eye movement, motor skills and his verbal responses.

The maximum score is 15. This guy's down at about a five, so he's got some mental deficit.

-I'll go and have a look.

-OK. You're clear round the back.

Paramedics Darren and Graham know they must stabilise the patient and get him on Helimed 98 quickly.

Get him loaded and we'll get gone. 98, over.

-'Go ahead.'

-Prepare aircraft for a rapid transfer onto the aircraft from where you are, please.

Patient with severe head injury.

We don't know if he's just fallen, hit something in the road and it's catapulted him in some way.

I wouldn't like to be able to say what had happened. His bike looks to be reasonably intact. I don't know.

He looks a poorly man.

He was unconscious when the first bystander got here. Airway occluded.

When I got here, he was on his side. Equal chest movement and air entry.

-Which eye blown?

-Right.

-Right-side pupil blown.

Potentially also a neca femur...

A blown pupil is an indication that he may have a bleed in his brain.

A broken thigh bone suggests he's been hit by a car, so he may be the victim of a hit-and-run driver.

I got out the car. I am a first aider.

The guy was on the floor, but there was a pedal cycle. He was straddling his pedal cycle.

And we just did what we could, put him in the recovery position.

He was gurgling with the amount of blood there was. He was bleeding very heavily and we held him there

until the first responder came and then did what he asked.

-OK, on lift then.

-Two, three, lift.

Never is the need to act fast greater than with a patient with a low coma score

-and with pressure building up inside the man's head, the injury could be fatal.

-Keep going.

Keep feeding him forward.

Watch the oxygen.

Flying a patient in this condition is risky as with a head injury they can quickly regain consciousness

-and become aggressive.

-He's fairly calm, but he may have a lucid period where he regains consciousness.

And then he'll start to be combative and potentially throw himself around a bit.

I hope he doesn't do that. We're going to fly him directly to the LGI

where there's neuro facilities.

As Helimed 98 comes in to land,

surgeons below are preparing to operate. Little is known about the patient and the focus now is

to give him the specialist care he urgently needs.

That evening, police identify the man as John Fishley,

a retired physics teacher who lives in Cawood. Now the hunt is on for the local motorist

they suspect knocked him off his bike and left him in the road.

Cawood is quite a small village.

There are implications that there is somebody out there with information

who hasn't come forward. Perhaps they'd like to share it with us.

John's head injury is so severe, he is in a coma for two weeks.

It's a worrying time for his five children, who rally round him, visiting every day

until finally he regains consciousness.

The first thing that I woke up to see

was some of my children. I couldn't tell you which ones they were,

but one was my eldest son, older son.

And...one of them was my older daughter, as I remember.

And from then on I began to remember things.

We all rushed up to Leeds General to find Dad in ICU,

not breathing for himself, all tubes coming from everywhere,

looking very frail, very old.

And we spent two weeks with him in ICU.

And then since then the progress has been absolutely amazing. Here we are, two months on,

and he is our dad again.

John is expected to make a full recovery and it's hoped that for his peace of mind

whoever did knock him off his bike does come forward.

It's highly unlikely it was done on purpose, Dad is getting better,

but just for...a happy ending, as such, for them as much as us,

it would be great if they could come forward with information.

Flooding seems to be an almost monthly event somewhere in the UK.

Each time it takes its toll on the emergency services.

While firefighters pump out property, the Ambulance Service struggles to reach its patients.

The Helimed team has to be ready for anything and today the paramedics are undergoing training

in how to work safely around white water.

Make sure the straps are done up nice and tight. Through the plastic.

It sounds simple enough, but experts will tell you

even shallow, fast-flowing water will knock you off your feet.

I've already done a few jobs in quite dangerous water or working around it.

It's nice to get this training so I feel more confident around it.

I tended to keep my distance before. Hopefully, once we've done this I'll be able to get stuck in

and have more impact when we get to these things.

It will give us a bit more awareness about how water reacts, how dangerous it can be.

Once every couple of months we get jobs that involve water in some way.

It is more often than you'd think.

Flood waters can hold hidden dangers. Rescue workers have drowned after being trapped in debris

or falling down hidden manholes and today their new skills could come in handy.

Dozens of roads across North Yorkshire are blocked. Near a remote village, an ambulance with a patient

is stuck in a ditch. The patient is suffering a stroke and this delay could be life-threatening.

'The patient's condition is starting to deteriorate. They've had an active stroke now.'

Roger, Martin. Two minutes to go.

Oh, look. The only gate is flooded, plus, plus.

-We've got a load of cows coming our way.

-Cows on your right side.

-Overshooting.

-The guys are indicating the next field.

-I suspect they're bulls.

The surrounding fields are flooded, so pilot Chris Attrill is touching down alongside livestock.

Four bulls directly in front.

Mush!

Chris finds himself herding the reluctant bulls away from his landing site.

They're squaring up to you, Chris.

-Oh, four.

-Here we go. Five.

-Don't drown them now, OK?

-No, I'm not.

The ambulance slid into the verge after the road was undermined by flood water.

-So the numbness is giving you concern.

-I can see why the bank gave way.

Now firefighters fear the ambulance could slip further down the bank

-unless the patient is unloaded very carefully.

-It will go.

-Topple.

-We want to keep as much weight on this side as possible.

-OK.

Slowly the man is removed from the ambulance,

but it's not just this road that's been affected by the floods.

Bad flooding all the way up and down from Catterick to Thirsk.

Finally, the patient is on-board Helimed 99 and on the way to hospital.

Speed is essential in treating strokes and the Helimed team has minimised what could have been

a considerable delay for their patient.

The man is admitted to the Stroke Unit of the James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough,

but despite his flight he dies some time later.

The market town of Malton in North Yorkshire has been inundated by the River Derwent.

For many local people, this has become an almost annual event,

but last week's rainfall has left parts of this town cut off.

In one street, Helimed 98 is desperately needed.

Onboard, Graham Pemberton is preparing for another patient stranded by the flood water.

We're going to a three-month-old with a hole in her heart. She's got difficulty breathing.

We've just been told she has been booked in for surgery.

The crew had to turn around because of the flooding

so they've still got a transit time to get to see her of 35 minutes. We'll be 5 minutes now.

-You can see it all out there.

-Yeah, it's nice and wet. It's a combination of Yorkshire and Atlantis.

Yeah.

With ground crew struggling to get through to Malton,

Helimed 98 will get to the patient first. Ahead is Poppy Ellison, a three-month-old baby girl

with a heart condition. She's been very sick and her parents are worried.

That's that circled bit below us. We're over the college. We're looking at one o'clock.

-See a large building, pink roof?

-Yeah.

-That's pretty much the centre of the area.

It's one of these roads literally next to that.

Finding residential streets by air is not easy,

so paramedic Sam resorts to using the A to Z.

-Want me to have a look as well?

-Yeah, pass it back to Graham for a moment, mate.

-I'm just trying to think where we can land.

-Pilot Chris manages to touch down in a local playing field.

Now at last they can get to Poppy.

Very difficult to transport her from here. You can't get down to see the roadsides.

Trying to orientate it correctly is quite difficult. You're always moving around. An unfamiliar town.

It's taken us the best part of 5 or 6 minutes whereas normally you're straight in.

At the address, both Poppy's parents are very concerned about her condition.

-Hello. Waiting for an ambulance?

-Yes.

-How are you doing?

Poppy was born with two holes in her heart so when she is sick it is very worrying.

POPPY CRIES

Oh, dear.

Do you want to see if there's a monitor in there?

Poppy is due for heart surgery at the end of the month and her parents were told to monitor her closely.

She was getting really breathless when she was getting upset.

She's got two holes in her heart,

one large and one small. And there's a lot of fluid round her lungs

so they just want to close the holes.

They are actually trying to close, but there's too much pressure on her lungs still.

-What exactly is concerning you today?

-It's just the coughing.

-Every time she has her bottle or her medicine, she's bringing them up.

-She's being sick?

-Yeah.

-How soon after taking her medicine is she sick?

-About 20 minutes, sometimes half an hour.

-Sometimes up to an hour.

-Not straight away, then? Within seconds or a minute or two?

-No.

-No.

-Right, OK.

-So she's retaining food and fluids and her medicine.

-Yeah.

If it's 20 minutes after she's eaten, it's going through

and then she throws up a little bit.

Every parent knows how quickly a baby's symptoms can appear and disappear,

but with Poppy's heart problems, keeping a close eye on her

and making sure she absorbs her medication is essential.

-Her breathing sounds OK.

-I mean, they checked her yesterday.

-They did what you've just done.

-And her temperature was fine. Yeah?

So it all seemed within the normal parameters you'd expect for a baby of her age.

-Just with bringing up her medicine...

-I don't think she will.

If she's keeping it down for 20 minutes, it will be absorbed...

Yeah? See what I'm saying? If she was bringing it up within a minute or so of ingesting it,

that's a different matter. But if she keeps it down for 20 minutes...

Unless a patient's condition is life-threatening, it's unlikely they'll transport them to hospital.

It's decided it's safe for Poppy to stay at home.

Through the weekend or even tonight, if you want to speak to a doctor,

ring your doctor's surgery and it will automatically put you through

-or give you a phone number to ring. But there's always a doctor available, 24/7.

-I'm all right now.

-Yeah?

-Now I know she's OK.

For now, the best place for Poppy is at home with Mum and Dad,

but she will need to be monitored closely over the next few hours.

Flooding is costing insurers millions and it's not just your home at risk when the waters rise.

Modern cars rely on complex electronics which make them vulnerable to even a foot of water.

The rain may have stopped, but water levels in many areas are still rising,

-catching many people out.

-Can we land in that field with the sheep?

-Down at three o'clock now.

-I'll give it the once over.

It's early morning and an elderly couple have become stuck in their car in rising water,

but the floods mean landing somewhere safe will be difficult.

I'll try to put you on this path here. How does that look on your side?

-It looks fine.

-Good at the back, mate?

Good to the right and the rear.

The Fire Service has been able to get through the floods and reach the couple.

They were stranded for some time in a car full of icy water.

-Morning.

-Hiya. I'm the local police inspector. Are you aware of what's happened?

A couple of elderly people trying to get through the flood water.

The flood waters may look calm, but they can be very dangerous, even for the professionals.

All the air crew are trained swift water first responders,

so we can work in and around water safely.

The courses make you aware that even standing water like this, it's easy to catch you out.

That's what's happened to these guys. Even a very small movement in the water can make it very difficult

to stand up. So you do have to be very aware when you deal with water.

Luckily, the fire crews got the couple out of the car. They're now drying out in the ambulance.

We got a call to an elderly couple who were stuck in a vehicle with an electronic handbrake.

The water's affected the electrics and they were unable to move the vehicle,

so we had to walk them out of the water. We've administered first aid. They're both suffering from cold.

The ground ambulance crew think they can find a clear route to hospital,

so they'll transport the couple themselves, freeing up the Helimed team.

They probably thought they could do it. The water level's going up still. They've had an electrical cut-out.

They've been driving through it and the electrics have just gone.

It's going to be a busy day. Police want people to stay at home.

There are reports of signs being moved and thrown into hedges, which we're looking into.

If you see flood signs, don't try to go through the water. This flood water here's still rising.

Whilst the rain has stopped, we're on scene and the water is still continuing to rise.

Please use extreme caution.

It's in the dales and moors that affection for the air ambulance is at its strongest,

especially from people that live on remote hill farms.

In the hills of the Yorkshire Dales, farming is a family business.

It's not uncommon for three generations to work together,

and many children grow up treating the farmyard as a playground.

But agriculture is a dangerous industry and today on a farm

a little girl is seriously hurt.

Just give us the inbound track, please.

Yeah, 2-7-0.

We're just going off to a detail which is a five-year-old child

that's had a gate that's fallen we believe onto the child's leg.

The query is that the child has a fractured femur.

In kiddies,

it's quite nasty. They've got quite flexible bones at that age.

It takes quite a high impact to actually break.

Five-year-old Chloe Middleton was out with her dad when she was crushed. Her thighbone is broken.

It's hard to establish pain. She's quite content, in a sense, now she's on the table.

-She was sat across the lad's knee.

-Yeah, absolutely.

Chloe's parents and grandparents are by her side. The dining table has become her stretcher.

Initially, she was lying across the lap of the two gents.

She was probably a bit bent, really, so we said while you've got her on your lap,

we'll get her on the table and nicely in line.

A fractured femur can be agonising and the only pain relief Chloe's been given is paracetamol.

She didn't fancy the Entonox. She's not taken it very well.

-But she's not too distressed.

-No, that's cool.

-She's pretty chilled.

-We looked at morphine, but it's up to you.

-Yeah, OK.

We mobilised the limb as best we could. She's got power and sensation to her toes and her foot.

Lee knows the key to caring for children is to earn their trust first.

-Chloe's not keen on flying in Helimed 98.

-We're just going to be going off to hospital. OK?

You're all right. We're going to be going up in the helicopter.

-But she soon comes round to the idea.

-All right?

You're going to be safe, OK? You'll be safe.

The team's concerned the broken bone could be disrupting bloodflow to Chloe's foot.

It's potentially serious.

Obviously, their circulation is limited,

but they're also robust, children, and they do recover well.

The family farm is on the edge of the Dales. Instead of a bumpy ride down the farm track

and along the local lanes, Chloe's being flown smoothly to hospital in Middlesbrough, 30 miles away.

Great. There we go, look. Eh?

How good's that?

Pop your little seatbelt on. Mum's going to be sat behind you.

All right? You happy with that?

Dales farmers are renowned for shrugging off pain and discomfort. Chloe's a chip off the old block.

Lee is impressed by his patient's courage.

There's barely a murmur, even when she's unloaded at James Cook Hospital.

So it's no surprise that within a few days she's back home a Roomer Farm.

No, forwards. Or is it back here? Here.

And then we're doing this one.

'She never made a drama, she never screamed the place down.

'She was fantastic. She did everything the doctors wanted.'

She took her medicine, she had all sorts, needles, and as long as we held her hand

'she was just wonderful.'

-This page.

-This page, right.

Then that top goes on her.

'The air ambulance was brilliant. It was to the farm in eight minutes. We must have been'

another five, ten minutes getting her into the helicopter and then they were gone.

'They said they'd be straight up to Middlesbrough. It was brilliant.

'12 minutes and she was up there. And when I went up in the car,'

it took me an hour and a half, so it was just fantastic.

No, keep going. Keep going.

Now it's just a recovery process, which will be slow,

but it's a bone and it's been fixed and it could have been a lot worse.

Now back to the rescue of train driver Dave Graham, struck down by a heart attack

on his Trans-Pennine Express.

On the main line from York to Scarborough, Dave's heart attack has brought chaos to a busy route.

Helimed 99, just to let you know we're airborne

and we have 1-5 minutes to run.

An hour ago, he was at the controls of his train. Now he's a passenger on board Helimed 99.

OK, David?

No.

David has a major blockage in an artery supplying his heart.

-He's in terrible pain.

-Is it coming back a bit?

-Yeah.

-What are you scoring out of 10? Zero being no pain and 10 being the worst pain ever.

-Where would you put it at?

-Six.

About a six. OK.

Paramedic Darryl Cullen is concerned his patient's condition may be worsening.

-How long have we got to run, Lee?

-12 minutes, mate.

-12, OK.

-Yeah.

Cardiologists at Castle Hill Hospital near Hull are on standby to give the best treatment available

to heart patients.

In a procedure known as angioplasty, the blockage will be removed

and the blood vessel permanently opened up using a tiny spring called a stent.

The operation goes well.

Hello.

And barely 24 hours after his heart attack,

David's ready for his first visitors and his family have travelled from Liverpool to see him.

The doctor mentioned about coming home today, but the nurse said she'd rather I come home tomorrow.

Each day, you know, is a better day.

The first thing I thought about was the passengers, rather than myself at the time.

Obviously, you've got to think about their safety.

'Thank you very much for your patience and your understanding.'

When I started feeling dizzy, I obviously thought, "This train has got to come to a stand."

Just in case I don't wake up again.

You gave me those ECGs back?

'I ended up falling forward onto the dashboard,

'whereby my head fell onto the horn. As soon as I woke up, I panicked.

'I heard the horn going off. Once I got my head together, I was OK. I realised what had happened.

'It's upsetting.'

I'm holding it back. I don't realise how lucky I am.

-That's his ID stuff.

-And his mobile.

-Slot that in there.

And the luckiest factor of all was the nursing care he received.

Six months later, Dave is back at work,

but not yet back on the trains. His heart attack has changed his life.

He has lost a stone in weight, stopped smoking and now takes regular exercise.

He believes if it wasn't for the nurses on the train, he would have died that day.

'They were my guardian angels. Without them, I wouldn't be here now.

'I can't thank them enough for what they've done.'

I feel absolutely marvellous. 100% better, you know? Since I've had the stent fitted.

Today is a special day. It's been arranged for Dave to meet the nurses who were on that train.

The six workmates - Amy, Hilary, Natalie, Lisa, Kathryn and Lindsay - are on their way

to see him at Manchester's Piccadilly station.

We'd been on holiday to Scarborough.

We were on the train on the way home.

Because we all work together, it helped because

we just instantly got him to the floor, into the recovery position,

then I left a couple of people there and I called 999.

I've been looking forward to this for quite a while. I want to know what they done for me on the day.

'If you are leaving the train, please take all your personal belongings.'

Hello!

-Hello, girls.

-You're looking better!

-You all right?

-Nice to meet you all again under better circumstances.

-How are you?

-Fine, thank you.

Shall we sit down here?

I'm very, very lucky, I really am,

because... I'm starting to get a bit emotional here. I'm sorry.

Six lovely nurses here that looked after me!

Over the moon, girls. I really am. I can't thank you enough.

Did you go to Liverpool? Sorry I couldn't get you there.

-See, I don't remember anything.

-Do you not?

We were sat nearer to you and could see you leaning over in the cabin. We knew there was summat wrong.

I just remembered feeling dizzy.

I had pains down my arms, across my shoulder, in my jaw.

The next thing, I just blacked out. I woke up, my head was on the horn.

You'd a lot of pain in your jaw.

-Is that a normal thing?

-Yeah.

-When somebody's having a heart attack?

-It's usually across the shoulders.

I got it in both arms and my jaw.

-Yeah.

-I felt like I'd done a few rounds with Mike Tyson!

-I bet.

We just made you comfortable, got you into the recovery position.

Lisa had a pillow with her cos we'd been on holiday, so we gave you a pillow under your head.

Before that, you had Amy's cardigan so your head wasn't on the floor.

You just kept swinging in and out of consciousness, really.

I've really been looking forward to this day, meeting you all.

At the end of the day, you're all my guardian angels.

You do a fantastic job and... God only knows what would have happened

had it not been for you girls.

And the good news is Dave will be back in the driving seat soon.

Now hot air ballooning is meant to be the gentlest way to fly,

but bad weather can make this form of flight extremely dangerous.

There's been a crash landing on moorland, high on the Pennines,

and now the low cloud that was a factor in the accident is making life difficult for Helimed 99

-and pilot Andy Lister.

-There's quite a lot of cloud around.

You need it fairly unbroken for hot air ballooning.

I suspect the last thing you want when you're in a balloon is to be above the clouds.

To be fair to their community, they do take their sport very seriously indeed

and have the same system of licensing that any other commercial pilot does.

There is a special hot air ballooning licence you need.

Looks like it's right on the side of a steep hillside.

My understanding is that they usually follow them with four-wheel drives to try to retrieve them.

To say it's an access problem does sound a wee bit peculiar but we'll see.

Paramedics Dave Appleby and Tony Wilkes arrive to find debris scattered across the hillside.

-The passengers are relieved and unscathed.

-You had a bump?

We came in about 20mph and it's just very rough ground. I still can't feel anything wrong,

but apparently there's bruises on my face and things.

We had an attempted landing five minutes before this one

and we came down a bit hard at about 400 feet per minute, maybe a bit less.

A bit of a knock. So we missed it and popped back up.

As we came in towards the moors, there was quite a lot of cloud

and there were pylons ahead.

So Roy, rightfully, brought the balloon high to ensure we wouldn't hit the pylons.

We'd lost visibility. He slowly brought it back down.

It wasn't a bad place to land so we came in for it.

And we just came in a bit fast.

It was an incredibly lucky escape. Pilot Roy Battersby was trying to bring the balloon down

due to the low cloud, but after one failed landing, he had to lift the balloon quickly to clear pylons.

We got nicely over the pylons, came down a bit and could see the road through the cloud.

And we just landed very, very heavily. I gather at about 20mph.

And what happened was that the pilot must have suffered some concussion.

There were five passengers onboard. Pilot Roy is the only one who's hurt.

-We finally came to a stop. And all I could hear was...

-SHE GROANS

And it was Roy, who is absolutely always in control.

Always sharp as a tack. Nothing fazes him.

And he wasn't well at all.

We bounced along for quite a long time. It was quite desperate.

The balloon did not want to stop. I don't know how far that is. It's quite a distance we travelled.

Roy doesn't appear to have any serious injuries. He and his passengers had a lucky escape.

You hit on the ground and then pop up a bit. There's a bounce.

Roy was pulling on the parachute line as best he could, which is why he got injured.

He was in control, taking the hot air out of the balloon so we wouldn't pop up again.

Roy has been flying balloons for over a decade and this is the first time he's had an accident.

-I'll sit you in here for a few minutes, as much to warm you up as anything.

-I'm not too cold.

But you feel cold when I touch your hands. Plus I'm the softest Geordie you'll ever meet. It keeps me warm.

-This pain, where would you say it is?

-More of a dull ache.

-Do you think it's a muscle thing?

-I think so. I really do.

-Did you have it beforehand?

-No.

-And whereabouts is it, you'd say?

-Sort of here. I think my body's been pulled this way and that.

-Right.

You can tell it's a muscle pain.

He's had a really nasty shake-up. He's been very concerned about the other occupants of the balloon.

He's more concerned that they could have been injured than anything else really.

Yeah, everybody's walked away so that's always a good landing.

-Roy may look a bit battered and bruised, but it's time to go home, this time by car.

-Thank you.

-Safe ballooning.

-Most kind! Thank you for your help.

Paramedic Dave gives Roy the all-clear. He is keen to get back to his team.

'Yorkshire Air Ambulance were terrific,'

particularly the gentleman behind. He was very good.

But right now I want to go home and have a hot bath.

The Pennines are well known for their wild and windy winters.

It will probably be spring before Roy can fly again.

The good news is his cuts have healed and his balloon is ready for take-off.

I sent out the usual email and several people responded.

I checked the ballooning weather forecast because it's crucial.

It was giving a gentle wind that day, between 5 and 8 miles an hour,

which is absolutely splendid.

Almost straight away, the wind started to pick up and pick up.

And it simply got faster.

It's difficult to know exactly, but I think we landed at over 20mph,

which really is too fast.

As we came in to land, I briefed the other passengers for the last time to hold on.

As soon as we hit, it was even faster than I thought. The basket tips over

and then proceeded to drag for what seemed like an eternity.

I shall be looking for slightly lower winds in future, but you can never guarantee the English weather.

Roy has made a full recovery and is now back in the basket.

He's still keeping a weather eye out, but is a little more sceptical about the forecast.

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