Many moons ago this man very generously offered to take me up for a circuit in order to show this (now sadly lapsed) PPL (SEP) what microlighting was all about. Whilst it scared the sh!t out of me I was struck by how this guy point blank refused any offer of payment, so happy was he to share his enthusiasm.
Although I barely knew him I was aware of his reputation and his experience and so was very shocked to learn of his demise..if it could happen to him it could happen to the best of us, right? I was therefore equally saddened to read the AAIB report and find out that alcohol was involved. Did this directly cause the accident, or did it prevent him from recovering from a situation that he might otherwise have walked away from? Or perhaps neither. Either way I am not sure whether to be strangely relieved that the cause of the crash may have been something we could all easily avoid, or whether it was something else that we could not.
At the minimum, this is extremely tragic for all involved, at worst this was an accident that perhaps should never have happened.
