Mayday - The Passenger Who Landed a Plane

I've made a number of films based on audio recordings of often dramatic and infamous events. Having always been intrigued by the emotional impact of radio broadcasting, I was very drawn to combining sight and sound to maximize storytelling and emotional effect. It involved experimentation and more work than the films might suggest, but it was very rewarding and is an area of ongoing interest. 77-year-old John Wildey was a passenger in a Cessna light aircraft when his friend, the pilot, died at the controls. John was stranded 1,500ft up, in a plane he didn't know how to fly. After making contact with local Air Traffic Control, he began an epic series of attempts to land the plane at a local airport. Guided by a team of controllers on the ground and an RAF helicopter flying alongside him, he failed three times and with fuel about to run out, was left with one final attempt - in the dark.