Investigation into light aircraft tragedy
INVESTIGATORS trying to discover how a pilot of a light aircraft came to crash in a fatal accident in a remote stretch of the River Nene say they have ruled out a mechanical fault.
INVESTIGATORS trying to discover how a pilot of a light aircraft came to crash in a fatal accident in a remote stretch of the River Nene say they have ruled out a mechanical fault.Speaking at the scene at the isolated spot in Coates, near Whittlesey, yesterday (Monday), the senior inspector with the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) said early indications ruled out a fault with the aeroplane.
However, Stephen Moss said the definite cause would not be known until the smashed wooden pieces of the single-seater home-built Taylor Titch plane were moved to the team's hangar in Farnborough in the next few days and closely analysed.
Mr Moss's comments come after he and another investigator had spent hours painstakingly sifting through wreckage which was floating in the stretch of river known as Morton's Leam, near Eldernell Lane.
The plane crashed into the water at about 3.15pm on Sunday.
A rescue effort was launched by emergency services but it is believed the pilot, who was flying alone, died on impact.
Yesterday, the broken tail of the white aircraft, marked with G-Miss, could be seen lying in the river.
Smaller pieces of debris also littered the scene.
A number of police cars were used to help seal off the scene of the accident while air crash investigators used specialist equipment to collect the wreckage.
Mr Moss said: "We are looking into the circumstances surrounding this tragic aeroplane crash. When we arrived on Sunday night, it was too dark to do very much.
"On Monday, we started to examine the site and we are already making arrangements to move the aircraft to our hangar in Farnborough.
"Once we have got it there, we will examine it in detail and do any tests that are necessary."
He added: "It is a home-built aircraft so we are looking into the building of it. At the moment, there are no suspicions that the aircraft was at fault."
He said they didn't yet know whether the pilot had issued a distress signal.
The accident scene was cordoned off throughout yesterday and it is expected the investigation into the cause could take up to six months to complete.
The pilot has not yet been named but a coroner's officer for North and East Cambridgeshire said that his identity was likely to be revealed when the inquest was opened and adjourned in Wisbech tomorrow.
The pilot's body was removed from the wreckage on Sunday evening.
It is thought the man could be from the March area.
Malcolm Moss, MP for North East Cambridgeshire, said: "It's a tragic accident and my thoughts are with the man's family."
Accidents hit light aircraft
THIS is not the first fatal light aircraft crash to happen in the area in the past year.
Harry Barker, of Bourne Road, Carlby, was flying his Piper Arrow light aircraft from Spanhoe Airfield to Shacklewell Lodge, near Empingham, near Stamford, on February 13 last year, when it came down in thick fog.
Experts failed to find any medical or mechanical reasons for the crash, but told a coroner that Mr Barkercould have been distracted by unidentified technical problems at the time.
On February 24, 69-year-old David Mickleburgh, of Jarvis Gate, Sutton St James, near Spalding, died when his light aircraft came down at Holbeach St John airfield. The experienced pilot spent several years building the aircraft and had called it his Mickleburgh Sparrow.
Growing numbers taking to skies
A NUMBER of farmers who live in the remote Fenland plains where the crash happened are known to have pilot licences and own light aircraft.
For some it provides a form of transport that makes it easy to get around the remote area.
But a spokesman from the Civil Aviation Authority said this was not always the case.
He said pilots across in the UK applied for private aircraft licences if they had the appropriate land and the proposed runway was not near any hazards.
He said: "It's not just an East Anglia issue and it's not about remoteness. People apply for private aircraft licenses throughout the UK.
"Provided you have got a length of runway in appropriate lane and a place to put the runway that is not next to any major electrical pylons, you can apply."
He said the safety record for the planes were very high.
"The UK Civil Aviation Authority has one of the best safety records in the world," he said.
"Of course, the standards applied to planes in private use are not the same as for 747s.
"Nevertheless, standards are still very, very high.
"Pilots have to go through the same licensing and training frequency as pilots of bigger planes. It doesn't matter how many engines the plane has got."
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Saturday 20 March 2010
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