'Greedy' pilot, 52, is found guilty of 'grossly overloading' his plane with birdwatchers to make a £1,000 profit on flight to Scottish island of Bara that left three injured when it crashed- Robert Murgatroyd, 52, agreed to fly three birdwatchers to a Scottish island
- The pilot collected £500 each from the three men before the doomed flight
- Murgatroyd could not fly passengers for reward under the terms of his licence
- He will be sentenced for breaches of air law at Manchester Crown Court
The court also heard Murgatroyd has a previous conviction from 2014 for flying an aircraft without a valid ceritificate of airworthiness.
He denied endangering the safety of a person and an aircraft, flying without the relevant licence, failing to comply with insurance regulations plus three other charges under the Air Navigation Order 2016 - but it took a jury at Manchester Crown Square just under three hours to find him guilty of all counts.
Murgatroyd will be sentenced on March 15, and was granted bail, but prohibited from piloting or co-piloting any aircraft. He was also ordered to live and sleep at his given address.
Judge Michael Leeming told him: 'The counts are significantly serious to cross the custody threshold, and the likelihood is you will receive a lengthy custodial sentence.'
His weight and balance calcs were interesting.
'He accepted that he had not weighed the passengers or asked them for their weights. But he worked on the principle that if they fitted through the door then they could fly with you.'
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