Barbara Gibson, 45, from Rothbury, has been left in a state of shock after her partner of 10 years, Jon Ker, 38, was involved in the incident on Sunday, December 30, next to Burgham Park Golf and Leisure Club, near Felton, just after noon.

He was flying with Great North Air Ambulance colleague and pilot Jim Martin, who is currently in Newcastle General Hospital.

And for Barbara, it is a tragic case of déjà vu after Jon, along with Jim and their friend Dr Rupert Bennett, were involved in an incident at Ben Nevis, Britian's highest mountain, in January 2006.

The group plunged 100ft after a boulder around which their ropes were tied did not hold. Dr Bennett was killed in the incident.

Barbara said: "I'm just shocked and very upset.

"You never think these things are going to happen. It is just catastrophic.

"It is nearly two years to the day since the Ben Nevis incident. It is just surreal.

"You just ask yourself 'what have you done wrong to deserve this?'"

Barbara, who works in the Co-op in Rothbury, has revealed that the plane incident was made all the more traumatic after she found out about Jon's plight on the news.

She said: "I had been picking my daughter Hannah up when my dad rang at about 4pm and asked if Jon was flying as there had been a plane crash.

"And I said, don't worry, it won't be him.

"But when I got home I put up the Teletext and as soon as I saw that it was a Banbi (a type of microlight) I just knew it was him.

"I rang his friend and they told me that it was him.

"I got to Newcastle General Hospital at 6.30pm but I didn't get to see him until 12.30am, so until then, I didn't know what condition he was in."

And she has hit out at police for not informing her of Jon's crash, which ultimately left her to find out for herself.

She said: "Police told paramedics at the scene that they would inform me, but it has been over a week and I have still not heard anything. I am really cross."

The crash has left Jon with a broken left thigh, a fractured right leg, which was an open fracture, and facial injuries including a broken nose and a scar down his forehead. He also had endured head injuries, with swelling on the brain.

Speaking on Tuesday, mother-of-two Barbara said: "He wasn't properly conscious until Friday. He has no recollection of the incident but he is doing okay and he has improved dramatically.

"It is just the head injury which is a cause for concern. It will be a long road to get him back to how he was. The whole thing just knocks you for six."

Barbara has been visiting Jon, a father-of-one, in hospital every day since the crash. He was transferred from Newcastle General to Newcastle RVI last Wednesday for skin grafts, the results of which have been extremely positive.