A little more info courtesy of BossEyed in another thread. Could this be serious vertigo at work - fearing a crash landing?
Another question must be, if the A/C type, 172, is correct, how do you manage to open the door and prise yourself out even at low speeds?
I am not wishing to speculate insensitively, but can't help being stunned by this.
Quote:
Police are investigating the discovery of a body of a man, who is thought to have jumped from a light aircraft.
He was the passenger of a Cessna 172 plane which made a forced landing at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, after ice began to form on its wings.
But after safely bringing the craft down to earth, the woman pilot said her passenger, a man believed to be in his 40s, had jumped out minutes earlier.
The body was found lying in a field in the village of Fyfield, about eight miles from the aerodrome.
Passenger jumped
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said the aeroplane had been en-route to Hinton-in-the-Hedges, Northamptonshire, when the pilot asked for permission to divert from its route due to icing on the wings at about 1530 GMT on Tuesday.
He said: "Permission was given for the plane to land at RAF Brize Norton and it did so safely.
"However the pilot reported that about 10 nautical miles from its destination the passenger opened the door and jumped out.
"We have very little further information at the moment. We will be continuing our investigations."
Sealed off
Superintendent Learmot McDougal of Thames Valley police said the initial report came from air traffic control who said a passenger had left the aircraft without a parachute.
Thames Valley police said they have sealed off both the site where the body was found and the area around the plane.
A spokesman from the base said: "We had a privately-owned civilian aircraft that landed here.
"The pilot requested permission to land and it was granted."
Ministry of Defence police are working alongside officers from the Thames Valley force to investigate the incident.
LF