A PILOT says his dream of a becoming a commissioned officer in the Royal Navy was ended by a G-force injury in skies above Worcester when his instructor pulled a daring manoeuvre over his parent's house.
Lieutenant Paul Hanks, aged 31, yesterday began a High Court action against the Ministry of Defence claiming that the instructor, who was in the cockpit with him, took control without any warning.
It is Mr Hanks's case that the instructor said that he had just turned over his parents' house in Worcester.
"The additional effects of gravity placed strain upon the neck forcing it downwards and to the side, and Mr Hanks experienced an acutely painful episode, which he described as feeling a "pop" in his neck," said his counsel, Simon King.
Though the instructor's parents did live in Worcester, he denied that he put the aircraft into any particular high gravity manoeuvre or did anything which might have caused the episode complained of.
Mr Hanks, of Saughall, in Chester, was judged no longer fit to train as a pilot or serve in the Navy after the incident in August 2000.
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