Read an interview with Ian.

 

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RAF Tornado mid-air crash victim

 has first book published

Tuesday, April 06, 2010, 08:30 Lincolnshire Echo         

A Former RAF navigator who was involved in a mid-air collision in Lincolnshire has had his first book published.Ian Weaver was involved in a major collision in 1996 when two tornadoes from RAF Coningsby collided on January 10.         

Now he has had his first book published called, Time and Again, but eerily part of it was penned before his collision and has some remarkable similarities to what Ian experienced.         

The mid-air collision near Billinghay saw Mr Weaver and the pilots eject from the plane and parachute to safety         

He said: “I started writing the book to basically learn how to use a word processor. I wrote a few chapters, sent off to hundreds of literary agent who were not even interested in me sending them a chapter, so I just left it.         

“Following the accident I picked it up again and realised the similarities. The main character Tony ‘Harry’ Harrison is involved in an air collision and suffers similar injuries to me including being in a coma.”         

For more on this story, see this week’s Horncastle Target – available tomorrow, Wednesday, April 7.         

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Tuesday 1 June 2010 - Grantham Journal      

Truth is stranger than fiction for mid-air crash novelist

     

 
Published on Wed May 26 11:56:18 BST 2010       

A FORMER RAF navigator who incredibly survived a mid-air collision has used his experience to pen his first novel. Ian Weaver was a navigator in a Tornado F3 Fighter on January 11, 1996, when his plane collided with another Tornado during exercises over RAF Coningsby. Everyone involved miraculously survived but Ian suffered injuries which would take years to fully recover from. He recalls: “I can’t remember even going into work that day. My first memories are two weeks later when I woke up.” I was injured during the ejection. The roll rate of the aircraft was so much that I got chewed up on the way out.” Ian was fortunate the Tornado had been fitted with a dual-ejector system which meant if one person ejected, the other did too. In this case, the pilot was quick enough hitting the ejector button to save both of their lives. Ian said: “Afterwards, I was not expected to survive that first night, never mind walk again, so I have been extremely lucky.” Basically, it was an error of judgement and we hit each other head on.” Ian suffered a fractured skull, a broken neck and severe injuries to his shoulder. He was in hospital on and off for a year and had to undergo a further year of rehabilitation. Ian said: “It took about two years and then I went back to work for the RAF.“I was then discharged but worked as a civilian teaching people in a flight simulator at RAF Coningsby. ”Ian’s book, Time and Again, sees the main character injured and put into a coma following a crash in an RAF helicopter. Incredibly, this part of the book was originally written more than three years before his own crash. Ian said: “The hero had a crash in a helicopter which left him in a coma. He also suffered a brain injury and a big shoulder injury.” All of this is in the first chapter and was written before my own crash.” I contacted around 100 agents and couldn’t get anyone to even read it so I shelved it.” It was not until three years after my accident that I picked the book up again and saw the similarities.” Ian vowed to complete the book and get it published. He said: “I started the book in 1992/93, basically as a way of learning to use a word processor on a computer. It started as a short story and then evolved.” I just started tapping away to amuse myself but I really enjoyed writing it.” I go back and read it and, because I have short-term memory problems, I think ‘did I really write that? It’s really quite good!’” After all of Ian’s efforts trying to get the book published by contacting agents, he eventually found success thanks to a chance meeting with a local publisher. Ian recommends anyone wishing to write their own book be prepared to show plenty of perseverance. Ian said: “If you like your book then get family to read it. They are the harshest critics but if they can read it and forget it was you who wrote it then you are on the right track.” But perseverance is the most important thing so you can get someone in the business to read it. That is very difficult.” Ian attended King’s School in Grantham between 1971 and 1978.He joined the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy and became an observer on Sea King helicopters. His time in the Royal Navy took him around the United States and South America, as well as Antarctica before he transferred to the RAF in 1989.Ian plans to make his book part of a trilogy, with the second part due out either at the end of this year or the start of next – depending on the success of Time and Again. The book is available from www.amazon.co.uk or by going to Ian’s website, www.ian-weaver.com