Paul McCartney In Helicopter Drama

Pilot averts possible crash

A quick thinking pilot helped to avert a potential helicopter crash involving Paul McCartney over the weekend.

Paul McCartney has a schedule which would cripple most younger artists. The former Beatle still tours across the globe, playing to countless thousand fans on a near nightly basis. Often travelling by helicopter, the iconic singer was involved in a potentially serious incident over the weekend.

Returning home to his mansion in Kent, Paul McCartney's helicopter became disoriented as it moved towards the landing pad. Veering towards trees, the helicopter was mere feet away from a crash. Thankfully, the quick thinking of the pilot managed to pull the helicopter out of danger and Paul McCartney – together with wife Nancy Shevell – escaped unharmed.

Air Accidents ­Investigation Branch (AAIB) categorised the incident as "serious" noting: “While manoeuvring, the commander became ­disorientated and the ­helicopter descended toward the tops of trees in the forested area to the south and west of the landing site.”

Elsewhere, Paul McCartney has dismissed suggestions that Yoko Ono was responsible for the break up of the Beatles. 

Speaking to Sir David Frost for Aljazeera, the songwriter explained that John Lennon's departure from the band – triggering the split – had been widely anticipated by the remainder of the band. "I think it was time for John certainly to leave. It was a bit of a shock to all of us, he just announced 'oh I am leaving the group'. We all said 'are you sure about this?' We tried to keep it together but he was definitely going to leave, so that was basically what did it" he said. "But I think, in a way, then we realised that we had come full circle, we had kind of done everything we wanted to do … So in actual fact it wasn't that bad a thing."

"She certainly didn't break the group up," he said, referring to Ono. "The group was breaking up and I think she attracted John so much to another way of life that he then went on to, very successfully, add a sort of second part to his career, writing things like 'Imagine' and 'Give Peace a Chance'. I don't think he would have done that without Yoko."

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