That was heartbreaking to read. You sir, are a model of perseverance in the face of adversity.
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@Scoop, you say that youâve lost 1/3 of your IQ. But as a fellow airline pilot I know how precious few brain cells you probably possessed before your misfortune. Now to take a further third away from that already shrunken base should, in theory, make you a complete idiot. Clearly you are anything but. Either you were a genius before or you are selling yourself way too short now. Such a tragic injustice was done to you but youâve come out the other side as strong as you are smart. Thanks for sharing.
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I was eligible for MENSA. Merely bright now 
All quantifiable figures Thanks to I Corps
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Seconded , couldnât have worded it better; what a storyâŠ
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I know where @BeachAV8R lives.
This is all completely reasonable.
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Fences do well with old engine oil.
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Hats off to you @Scoop you should write a book 
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I have. Not yet published but I have an offer when I decide to.
I have written it in two split narratives which interact in separate story lines/events interspersed with the incident and events around the court cases. My second day in court was fun.
I found the hard way that most people are disinterested in the event and never want a truthful answer when they ask âhow are you?â When I give talks on the history of the air ambulance in Scotland i found what people most enjoy - being molested at the controls by the female behind me. So I intersperse a bit of the chemical story line with a more humorous section either from the army or from aviation. Certainly I am still asked to speak about the air ambulance around once a month. Audiences from the National Air Traffic Control Centre, Royal Institutes to a motor bike group. Audiences 10 to 240 so far. I basically wrote down and expanded my talk, added a bit more from my life, counter terrorism, getting a Guinness World Record with Buzz Aldrin as a co pilot so that there is humour and a lighter touch. Then there is a burst of reality that contrasts terrorism and air line management. In my experience there is no difference between BA Express operated by Loganair and Terrorists. They each have a goal that they sacrifice lives for. An ongoing theme I am told is the difference in integrity between airline managers and the staff.
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I want that story 
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I want all of 'em. Sign me up for a copy of that book if it ever happens @Scoop!
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Iâm first in line boys. Line up behind me. I have been eagerly awaiting this book for a long time.
@Scoop you really do need to fill them in on the Buzz Aldrin story. They will love it.
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I will write it up tomorrow. Feeling a bit shook up just now as my body gave up as i went up the stairs. Pitched 140 degrees backwards and lost a bit of height. Fortunately I got a five wire by grabbing the bannister. Buzz is a gentleman in both meanings, unless your that weirdo who needed his attitude adjusting.
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Take it easy mate!!
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Did a lot better than my daughter (3) who didnât and ended up pancaking a perfect three-pointer with her buttocks, shoulders and head.
No concussion showed later but quite a scare! Luckily the vapid little thing has nary a brain apparently to get concussed 
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To be fair to him, that didnât reflect poorly on buzz in my opinion. The guy wanted a reaction and Buzz gave him one. Good on him
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Buzz did what I would have done, but I would have been less restrained.
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Not to mention taking the sim over from Elvis and Tom Jones⊠i will write this pm
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I feel like we need a âfireside stories with ScoopDâ thread. Iâd hang out there pretty regularly.
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Well, pull up a sandbag and crack a beer. Blame this on Schurem, Troll and VictorK2
2002 a year after the chemical incident my AME put me in the right seat of his new aircraft a Rallye 260. I thought it was a passenger trip for me, he told me to show him what it could do. It probably saved me from cracking at that point as I could only manage walking a few yards with a stick. My pals Colin Stephenson and Lee Durrell invited me to stay with them at Jersey Zoo. Getting up to a unique dawn chorus of orangutans etc and stepping outside to be surrounded by inquisitive merecats also helped. Lee organised an invite for me to attend the Governor Generals reception for the Red Arrows and get a good seat to watch the Jersey Airshow from. Colin let me fly his Twin Commanche to various French airfields including the landings. As we taxied in at Deauville ATC closed the airport for lunch. We had been invited to join them for this in the Tower. Baguette, soup and a large chocolate cake was produced along with a bottle of locally made cider. Colin and I looked at each other and we declined the alcohol despite the controllers insisting in Gallic style that âit was only lightâ. This all inspired me to contact the British Disabled Flying Association, now called Aerobility.
By devious means I got back into the air, renewed my instructor and examiner ratings and got a medical . Aerobility were gifted three non airworthy SA Bulldogs by King Hussein of Jordan.
Cannibalised they made one good aircraft which I taught on. I even got to fly her into Duxford for an airshow where I met the guy running the biggest Tiger Moth operation (17 aircraft), supposedly by chance.
Aerobility had again pulled out the stops for me and had got me a seasonal job flying Tiger Moths. I was doing a degree at the time so it kept me busy in the holidays.
Just as that came to a close I was asked if I would go back to flying the air ambulance, but for a different company. Loganair had lost the contract for this after 35 years, in some small part because of their actions associated with my incident.
Missing out a big chunk, I had still been doing some instruction for Aerobility when I was asked to be part of a big team doing the âGlobal Flight Simulator Challengeâ along with many of the great and the good in aviation. Buzz Aldrin was by far the most prestigious
Buzz was scheduled to fly one sector but he volunteered to fly with many pilots as their co pilot. He was and still is an indomitable supporter of Aerobility and was.a huge boost to everyones morale. He has been back severaltimes since then to the Blackbushe base. The simulator has changed but not the target which is to enable all to fly and if possible overcome their physical or other problems. We raised over ÂŁ100,000.
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The sim was running 24/7 so I had to take over the aircraft at a very unsocial hour, midnight. The pilots who brought it into Las Vegas for me were Elvis and Tom Jones who then went on (so they claimed)to Caesars Palace to do a show. They ate some of the doughnuts I had brought.
My leg was Las Vegas to Phoenix routing at very low level down the Grand Canyon. If you click the photos you should be able to read the books contents. Little did I realise I would years later reprise the route in a FA18 sim with DCS.
The mission was a success, we raised the money and enabled lots of profoundly disabled pilots to fly and in many cases get licences. Something we still do. All the aircraft are converted to remove physical disability. But believe me, it is not easy using a hand rudder controller. I tried and struggled. Feet are useful
At the end of the ten days, Buzz was happy to fly with any of us who hadnt so far. I was one of the lucky ones. A privilege and an honour to chat with him. Nerve wracking to see him assessing your flying skills.
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Awesome experience!
Could you talk a bit about the simulator?
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