Matthew Allwork

[Palma]

Cameraman killed in helicopter crash

A British cameraman has died in a helicopter crash in Dubai, while covering a horse race.
The Foreign Office confirmed Matthew Allwork, from Surrey, was a passenger in a local police helicopter when it crash on Wednesday morning.

The pilot, a Dubai police officer, was also killed.

Mr Allwork, 39, from Elstead, near Godalming, was filming the Dubai Endurance Horse Race in the United Arab Emirates.

Omar Katta, a spokesman for Dubai Police, said the aircraft had crashed at 0730 local time (0330 GMT).

Highly renowned

He said: "They think it was caused by the weather because it was very windy, it crashed in the desert.

"When the helicopter crashed it was burning."

Mr Allwork was managing director of Surrey-based company Aerial Camera Systems.

The firm's finance director Phillip Beckett said he was highly renowned for his camera work in sport and in films.

The Foreign Office confirmed Mr Allwork's family had been informed of his death.

He leaves a wife and two young children.


VERY SAD NEWS.

[Ascend Charlie]

Very sad indeed. Matthew was a talented cameraman with an eye for a spectacular shot.

We worked with him during the Sydney Olympics, and the USA readers might be interested to know that every shot they saw of the Olympics on NBC came from Matthew.

A big loss for the industry.

[smallfry]

Matthew and both sides of his family loved aviation, which makes it even more relevant to post here.
His Father owned (or part owned) a Tiger moth, his Father in Law, and brothers in law are all very involved in Aviation, holding senior management posts in International airlines, and all being commercial pilots.
Matthew was involved in filming all sorts of sports and films from blimps, helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, all over the world.
He always spoke very highly of all the professional pilots he had the pleasure of being flown by, and loved every minute he was in the air.
For as long as I knew him Matthew talked about getting his Helicopter Licence, but never found the time.
Sadly, another good guy lost.
Condolences to his family, and of course the family of the Dubai Police Pilot, who Matthew had often flown with.

Blue skies from now on Matthew.