“Happy enough to be standing and speaking” says Kilkenny man whose microlight came down earlier this month

“I thought it was the end”.

So says the Kilkenny man who’s small plane lost power and came down in a field earlier this month.

James Hennessy runs the National Reptile Zoo in Kilkenny City and is a known flying enthusiast too.

He came down in his microlight when it lost power over Woolengrange and was treated for a range of injuries on-site then at St Luke’s and later at University Hospital Waterford.

Those injuries included a fractured chest bone with broken bones in his hands and wrists as well as a suspected neck vertebrae fracture and lots of open wounds.

On KCLR Live earlier he praised the quick response from local paramedics, gardai and fire personnel.

He also said he’d initially feared his injuries were worse and that he was “Happy enough to be standing and speaking”.

Listen back to the conversation with our Eimear Ní Bhraonáin here: