I assume the recent increase in crashes is due to the increased flying volume due to the hot weather. But in my (limited) flying career I don't remember hearing about accidents with this frequency:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/5207006.stm

Yes General Aviation in the UK seems to be going through a bad patch in terms of fatal accidents.

We will have to await the conclusions of the accident inquiries before we can make any informed judgements.

There are matters of training, certification and recency which may or may not be relevant. We should bear in mind that private flying is more expensive due to increased fuel costs which may mean pilots are doing less flying and are therefore less in practice.

I only hope we do not have to suffer more restrictions since my hallucination is that the UK government regards private flying with some suspicion borne mainly by ignorance.

I get the sense that it is pretty much the same each year. I seem to remember quite a number a couple of years ago, the same year there was a mid air between a helo and a microlight. I could be wrong, just from memory.

Edited to say: Curiosity go the better of me - I can't find much on AAIB except the helo/microlight crash so maybe I have the wrong perception of past events.

A good test would be to compare this summer so far with summer of 2003, which was a very nice long summer.

However, a long summer doesn't necessarily mean a lot of flying gets done. What does happen is that the first week of nice weather (preceeded by lots of bad weather) brings out a lot of pilots, but the activity tails off after that even if the good weather continues, presumably because most people exhaust their budgets, or the usual other factors put pressure on how much time they can fly.

Also, fatals are rare, not more than a few each year, and one should expect large variations in rare events anyway.

It was a Cabair R22 and a microlight with 2 off-duty police officers on board who were sadly killed. The R22 returned to Elstree, pilot and student shaken but not badly injured If i remember correctly. I think it was 2004

And of course the BBC illustrate this sad story with the picture of - a 737

Does anyone have anymore info on this tragic accident? Was it an EGHH based aircraft?

VFE.

The accident was on 6 July 2004. The microlight was a Medway Hybred 44XLR (commonly called a Raven) flying from Plaistows on a short X-country, the helicopter was an R22 Beta flying from Elstree on an instructional sortie. The full report is here.

G

Thanks Genghis, but I was actually refering to the fatal accident at Bournemouth yesterday...

Cheers,

VFE.

Local BBC Radio Station reporting that 2 Fatalaties on a light a/c pleasure flight ex Bournemouth Airport,yesterday evening.Quote: "Landed well short of Runway;No Mayday/PAN Call.1. 40 year old,and 1. 60 year old passenger."

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=235838

Been a bad moment it seems for GA in GB.

My condolences and prayers to all who are suffering,

PE

GA aircraft are just falling out of the sky!! I think its time we binned the old and produced the new.

My condolences to all those who have been lost and those who are suffering.

Regards,

Felix Saddler

Does anybody know about what ACTUALLY happended at EGHH last night? Was it a based aircraft

This thread keeps drifting!

Thanks

More information from the BBC.

Was it part of the operation based at EGHH who do those mock dogfight excursions? Cannot think of the name....

VFE.

But we all know a "landing" is one you walk away from

The aircraft is believed to be a Yak-52.
I think this is now the 3rd crash this week. They say bad luck comes in threes so hopefully this is the last...No consolation to the families & friends of those who have been lost though.

My sincerest condolences to all.

IMC 1

"Does anybody know about what ACTUALLY happended at EGHH last night?"

NO...and no one will until the AAIB report on it.
Please leave it out.

UV

IMC1,
Two threads one of which was loosely related to this incident were merged. A question was posed as to why there are so many fatal accidents this year. Some of the posts are related to that, the others specifically to the incident.

Heard an interview on the local commercial radio station this morning with someone they described as the "accident investigator". He reported that the aircraft had impacted the ground from near-vertical and at high speed (didn't specify whether he meant high airspeed or high vertical speed). I'm sure we will find out in time exactly what caused yet another sad event.

FFF
---------------

My sincerest condolences go out to the families of the two individuals who lost their lives. The pilot was very well known and it will send a wave of sorrow throughout one particular element of aviation.

R.I.P.