AIR ambulance staff notched up their 100th mission - on a job which literally landed on their doorstep.

The pilot of a flight en route to Amsterdam was forced to turn the plane around and head back to Teesside Airport after a woman began to have a fit not long after take-off.

Paramedics from the Great North Air Ambulance (GNAA), based at the airport, were on standby to fly the woman to North Tees Hospital.

Matty Ward, GNAA's station office, said: "The flight had got over the North Sea when the lady started fitting and the pilot made the decision to turn back."

The woman is believed to have suffered a mild stroke.

The charity, which has its offices in Darlington, is hoping to keep the ambulance in the air indefinitely after a successful three-month trial run.

The ambulance costs about £70,000 per month to keep flying and, along with its sister helicopter in Blyth, Northumberland, means patients can be taken to hospital within about ten minutes from across North Yorkshire and the North-East.

Mr Ward said: "We want to keep it here for as long as possible and the only way we can do that is for people to support us. It's already proving that there's a great need for it."

* To support the GNAA contact (01325) 487263.