78. On a Wing and a Prayer: Duncan Laisney

When his plane’s engine lost power, Duncan Laisney had to ditch into the sea

Former RAF Tornado pilot Duncan Laisney had never trained to ditch an aircraft. So, when an engine failure during a training flight meant he had to ditch into the sea near Jersey, he faced a scary realisation.

After Duncan – and co-pilot Paul – started their descent, everything happened incredibly quickly. In 2½ minutes they were in the water. A surge of waves enveloped the plane, and after they climbed into their liferaft they watched the plane sink nose-first – leaving them in the eerie quietness of the empty sea.  

Hear Duncan relive the moments before landing. And discover how he and Paul lived to tell the tale.

200 Voices is produced by Adventurous Audio for the RNLI

Interview by Adventurous Audio

Soundtrack composed and performed by Jon Nicholls

The RNLI is a charity celebrating 200 years of saving lives at sea - find out more at RNLI.org/200