FORGOTTEN DARTERS: 'Mile High' Mark Hylton who flew to two major Quarter-Finals

In this section we regularly reminisce about Forgotten Darters from the past. Today it's the turn of Mark Hylton. Known as 'Mile High' as he was a former airline steward who traded in that life for a professional darts career.

Hylton, born in 1966 in London, had already been active at an amateur level for quite some time when he made his first appearance in front of the television cameras in 2007. At the UK Open he defeated Ray Carver in the first round but then went down against Mark Robinson.

For a long time Hylton worked as an airline steward but in 2010 he decided to devote himself full time to his darts career. That year he failed to qualify for the UK Open but later in the year he reached the final of a Pro Tour tournament in Australia. He eventually lost that final to Dennis Priestley. He also managed to qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts for the first time, but there he lost his three group matches against Gary Anderson, Mark Webster and Wayne Jones respectively.

He was also well known for his walk-on called the Exit Drill, the preflight safety demonstration, a nod to his aviation past.

Shocks on World Championship debut

Due to his good performance during his debut year in the PDC, he qualified for the 2011 World Championship. In the opening round he caused a big shock by sending the 24th seed Steve Beaton home 3-2.

Hylton, who got the nickname 'Mile High' because of his background in aviation, was on a roll and in the second round he defeated the 9th seed Colin Lloyd 4-2. Finally, his adventure came to an end in the third round against Mark Webster, who proved too strong 4-1.

It turned out to be the best World Championship performance of Hylton's career.

Two major quarter-finals

Hylton was named "Best Newcomer" in the PDC due to his strong debut year. In 2011, he reached the quarter-finals at a TV tournament for the first time. At the UK Open he successively defeated Brian Woods, Geoff Whitworth, Andy Jenkins, Andrew Gilding and Peter Wright before losing to Denis Ovens. At the World Matchplay that same year, he was very close to a shock in the first round against Phil Taylor, but in the end 'The Power' narrowly won 10-8. At the World Grand Prix he reached the quarterfinals of a major for the second time that year. In the last eight Richie Burnett was too strong in a 4-1 win.

In 2012 Hylton made his appearance at the PDC World Championship for the second and final time. In the opening round he lost 3-2 against Vincent van der Voort.

In the years that followed Hylton was never able to repeat the performance of his first two years in the PDC. He quickly dropped in the Order of Merit and lost his Tour Card at the end of 2014. Afterwards he tried a few times at Q-School, without success. In 2017 he seemingly said his final goodbye to the PDC.