Originally Posted by
chevvron
Departed from Dunsfold on a test flight just as I went off duty. I was already out of the door when somewhere about Boscombe Down (who'd already closed for the day) the drogue 'chute on his seat deployed and took the poor pilot with it. A shepherd was vectored onto it over the Bristol Channel and confirmed the guide rail had been acitvated and the seat was empty.
The pilot's body was found by a gamekeeper near Winterbourne Stoke. I remember this one well.