The dramatic rescue of a cyclist after an horrific high-speed crash will feature on the small screen next week.

Helicopter ER, following the life-saving work of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA), begins its second series at 9pm on Monday (Aug 28) on UK TV channel Really.

Experienced triathlete, cyclist and endurance runner Tom Phillips was on a 130-mile cycle ride through the Yorkshire Dales when he lost control on the steep Buttertubs Pass descent and smashed into a drystone wall.

He sustained multiple injuries in the impact – including fractures to his neck, spine, sternum, collarbone and several ribs.

Tom Phillips being treated by Yorkshire Air Ambulance paramedics at the scene of his horrific bike crash in the Yorkshire Dales

“Buttertubs Pass is a very steep descent and I just wasn’t concentrating,” said Tom, who lives at Arnside, Cumbria.

“I remember this corner coming up and thinking why I am going this fast. I threw the bike into a speedway-style slide but both wheels hit a kerb at the same time which catapulted me off the bike like a pole vault and I did a Superman impression straight into a stone wall. The next thing I was lying by the wall struggling to breathe. Everything after that is a bit like being in a dream world.”

YAA paramedics stabilized Tom at the scene before airlifting him to hospital in Middlesbrough in just 20 minutes. The journey by road ambulance would have taken a gruelling hour-and-a-half.

The 53-year-old underwent seven hours of surgery to repair his back and collarbone, with metal rods inserted on either side of his spine. Despite his injuries and significant nerve and muscle damage he was back on a bike within three months and has since raised £3,000 for the Elland-based YAA.

Just a month before his accident Tom witnessed an air ambulance in action when he was first on the scene of a nasty cliff fall in Cornwall.

“Within an hour of coming off my bike I was in hospital,” said Tom. “That quick transfer made the difference between being in hospital a few days or being in a couple of months. I remember being really impressed seeing the air ambulance in action in Cornwall and now I know at first hand just how vital they are and what a difference they can make to peoples’ lives.”

Tom’s rescue appears in the first episode of the new series of Helicopter ER. The programme is made by York-based Air Television, which won two Royal Television Society awards for its work on the series.

YAA serves 5m people across Yorkshire and carries out more than 1,250 missions every year. The charity, which operates two state-of- the-art Airbus H145 helicopters, needs to raise £12,000 every day to keep saving lives.