ORAC
14th Dec 2006, 06:22
The Times: (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,173-2502212,00.html) The aircraft that left its pilot on the ground :\
The pilot of a light aircraft who stepped out of the cockpit to restart a stalled engine could only watch in horror as it careered down the runway, took off and performed a loop before crashing.
The 70-year-old pilot, who was dressed in a protective suit and flying goggles, was preparing for a flight around Barton Aerodrome, near Manchester. He had just taxied the aircraft, a privately owned Luton Minor, to a holding point on the runway when the engine appeared to stall.
As he climbed out to hand-swing the propeller, he believes that he inadvertently nudged the throttle with his leg. It was enough for the aircraft to splutter into life and set off along the runway. The pilot desperately tried to direct the plane to open wooded ground by grabbing a wing strut, but he lost his grip and the aircraft took off without him.
Witnesses later described seeing the aircraft bank to the right before entering the loop and crash to the ground upside down, causing severe damage to the propeller, engine and fuselage.
The accident, which happened in September, was detailed in a report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch.Investigators said that the pilot, who has not been named, had a National Private Pilot’s Licence and 410 hours’ flying time. He had also spent 28 hours flying the Luton Minor, a single-seat wood and fabric plane of a design that dates from the 1930s. The crashed aircraft was 35 years old.
The pilot of a light aircraft who stepped out of the cockpit to restart a stalled engine could only watch in horror as it careered down the runway, took off and performed a loop before crashing.
The 70-year-old pilot, who was dressed in a protective suit and flying goggles, was preparing for a flight around Barton Aerodrome, near Manchester. He had just taxied the aircraft, a privately owned Luton Minor, to a holding point on the runway when the engine appeared to stall.
As he climbed out to hand-swing the propeller, he believes that he inadvertently nudged the throttle with his leg. It was enough for the aircraft to splutter into life and set off along the runway. The pilot desperately tried to direct the plane to open wooded ground by grabbing a wing strut, but he lost his grip and the aircraft took off without him.
Witnesses later described seeing the aircraft bank to the right before entering the loop and crash to the ground upside down, causing severe damage to the propeller, engine and fuselage.
The accident, which happened in September, was detailed in a report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch.Investigators said that the pilot, who has not been named, had a National Private Pilot’s Licence and 410 hours’ flying time. He had also spent 28 hours flying the Luton Minor, a single-seat wood and fabric plane of a design that dates from the 1930s. The crashed aircraft was 35 years old.