THE skill of London’s air ambulance pilot was tested as a difficult landing went horribly wrong in Welling High Street.

The helicopter was responding to a serious road accident involving a pedestrian and a bus on Saturday afternoon.

It was attempting to land in the high street when a chunk of metal flew off a nearby building, smashing into the rotor blades.

The helicopter landed under a shower of metal, its rotor blades mangled, and was grounded for the rest of the day.

Eye-witness Brenda Laning said: "The helicopter was circling around for a while before it came in very low. It was hovering for a while and the force of the wind from it was amazing.

"The buildings nearby were shaking and the roof of one of the shops nearby started to bow. A massive chunk of metal from one of the shops flew off and hit the helicopter with a massive bang."

A spokesman for London Air Ambulance confirmed the ambulance was temporarily put out of action because of damage to one of the rotor blades caused on landing.

"This did not effect the time it took for the medical team to reach the patient. Given the location of the incident, the patient would not have been airlifted to hospital and would have gone by land ambulance with the medical team accompanying the patient, which is what happened in this case.

"The medical team continued their shift in one of their rapid response cars which are used at night or when the aircraft is unable to fly."

The air ambulance was repaired over the weekend and was back in operation on Monday.

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