Very sad….

I’m not sure if this is suited on here, bits of it are and bits of it aren’t.

Gently lifted on to a helicopter, one of Britain’s youngest pilots made his final flight.

Daniel Swaddle was flown home from hospital to die at just 17.

It was discovered he was suffering from a fatal brain tumour and nothing could be done for him.

And air ambulance staff decided Daniel, who in his young life had taken giant strides towards his ambition of flying a jumbo jet, should be flown home as a mark of their respect.

His death has stunned the North East world of aviation and four members of Newcastle Aero Club travelled to his home last month to be at his bedside and present him with his private pilot’s licence.

Daniel started flying gliders at 11 and by the time he was 16 he became one of the youngest people in the country to earn his wings.

Word of his achievement brought a card of congratulations from the Red Arrows flying team.

Daniel passed his pilot’s exams for his full licence while a sixth-former doing A-levels at St Benet Biscop High School, Bedlington, and had won his licence by his 17th birthday on April 16.

But, tragically, on the same day came the first signs of illness.

At the family home in Blyth, his mum Judith said: “He had pins and needles in his right hand and was struggling to open his cards.

“On Sunday he phoned my dad to say he had looked in the mirror and thought the right hand side of his face had dropped.

“The doctors at Wansbeck General Hospital thought it might be a mini stroke or Bell’s palsy, but he was admitted to the RVI in Newcastle and a brain tumour was diagnosed on May 20.

“Its position was very deep and very central and they were unable to operate. He was given chemotherapy treatment but came home on July 2 because there was nothing more that could be done.”

His dad Paul, 40, said: “He was held in very high regard by the Newcastle Aero Club. They were impressed with his ability from day one. They said he was a natural.

“He just had an insatiable appetite for flying and for knowledge, an insatiable appetite for learning.

“Before flying he had been interested in lighthouses, wind turbines, modern trains and the science behind water, and he would want to know everything there was to it.

“To say that we were proud of him – not just his achievements, but proud of who he was – would just be a major understatement. It’s such a waste because he had his whole career planned out.

“He was aiming to fly twin-propellor planes next and get an all-weather rating. He eventually wanted to be an easyJet pilot.”

Daniel’s parents were deeply moved by their son’s final flight, when air ambulance pilots flew him home from hospital and treated the stretchered youngster as a co-pilot.

Daniel’s own notes show how he felt about flying. In them he says he first became interested at the age of nine and on December 19, 1998, made his first flight with Burn Gliding Club at Selby.

“Ever since that day I was obsessed with flight and one thing led to another,” he wrote.

He had also flown microlights from Eshott airfield in Northumberland and made his first powered flight with an instructor at the age of 14. His first solo flight came on his 16th birthday.

The youngster was following in the footsteps of his grandfather, George Cook, who served in the RAF in the 50s, and his uncle Brian Cook, 46, a British Airways pilot, who is to read the poem The Flyer’s Prayer at his funeral on Friday at St Wilfred’s Church, Blyth.

As a thank you the family are asking for donations to go to the air ambulance service.