I visited the VGS at Abingdon this weekend and it was obvious that as far as this accident was concerned they considered it was a case of, ‘there but for the grace of god’. It was all too close to home and involved people they knew
Abingdon is NOTAM’d as an active gliding site and as the VGS operates motor gliders the low overcast of Saturday wouldn’t and didn’t stop them from operating. It is therefore not surprising that the staff were more than a little put out by the poor airmanship displayed by a helicopter and two warbirds who crossed the airfield without the courtesy of a radio call. The warbirds were above circuit height but not by much, certainly lower than any Vigilant rejoining. On the other hand the helicopter was below circuit height. The track of all three aircraft also took them through an adjacent NOTAM’d temporary no-fly area. Presumably these professional pilots had checked the NOTAMS before their flight? Obviously not.
I also learnt that on the same day as the mid-air a small passenger jet made an approach to Abingdon whilst it was being used as a motor race circuit, they obviously thought they were approaching Oxford Kidlington. I was informed that this sort of thing happens more often than it should.
This little corner of England is a congested bit of airspace and throwing even more rules at won’t help if aviators don’t abide by them.
I’ve been vague on purpose in the descriptions of the aircraft involved but if you are one of the pilots involved you’ll recognise yourself, hopefully.