Light Aircraft down in Staffordshire
 

Reports of a light aircraft down near Colwich, Staffordshire. Emergency services on the scene. No more details. Lets hope no fatalities.

Sky news states Little Heywood.

So does BBC.

BBC NEWS | England | Staffordshire | One dead in light aircraft crash

RIP

BBC radio reporting it as near Little Heywood, also reporting one dead.

Google Maps View
 

From the description in the BBC News story I assume the crash location is visible in the satellite view shown in the link below or somewhere very close by:

little haywood - Google Maps

Sky News now reporting two dead.

R.I.P.

500 Fan.

Express and Star newspaper:A light aircraft crashed near Rugeley today and burst into a ball of flames with at least one person feared dead. The plane came down and exploded just before 11.50am near the villages of Colwich and Little Haywood.The emergency services say they do not yet know if anyone has been killed.But an eyewitness told the Express & Star he feared there would be no survivors from the wreckage. Michael Wareham, of Wolseley Close, Colwich, saw the drama unfold just a few hundred yards from his home and called 999.The former paratrooper said he fears that no-one will leave the wreckage alive after seeing the plane plummet to the ground. He said: “I saw it flying over and I went into the back garden and saw the aircraft – I thought: ‘This is a bit low.“I thought it’s not going to pull out of there.’ and then it vanished from sight and I heard this hard thump and saw a huge plume of black smoke coming up from the ground.”Mr Wareham said he couldn’t understand why the plane had crashed as the engine sounded as if it was working normally. He said: “The engine actually increased in speed as it came down, which planes do when you put them into a dive. “There was no damage I could see and no indication it was actually going to come down at all until it did.” This article posted on January 2, 2009 at 12:51 pm. Now reporting two dead. RIP

Did anyone manage to see the comments by people on the Sky News site. There were a few people defending the fact this is a tragic accident and not to speak about 'inconveniences to commuters'. Someone looked as though they were giving it (someone called Alan) on the comments, either way Sky have done a good job in removing said comments.

Potentially, from the Sky News clip it could turn out to be a PA 28 - 140 registered 'locally', which is self evident from 'G Info'. I won't post the suspected Reg / details. Authorities need to confirm that but I would be surprised if it is not that one.

RIP and thoughts especially to family and friends.

Aircraft Down
 

I Cant believe that the Aircraft reg has been posted on the forum!

I would like to say that my heart goes out to both of the familys
and i am sure that this will be said by every member on this forum i am sure!


God Bless R.I.P

Chessman,
Firstly you don't know for sure.... but if it was them it wasn't exactly sensitve was it:* Somebody's Dad, Brother, son. + A.N other has just perished & left their nearest & dearest very very sad.
IF it was that aircraft the owner was well known & liked in the area.
The field I (any many others) fly from is very close to the crash site & I have already had txts & calls asking if I was ok. Any need to publish the reg..... no I didn't think so:*
Day 2 in 2009 & we have already lost 2 fellow flyers. RIP.

Light aircraft crash onto West Coast Mainline
 

Being discussed on the private flying forum.


http://www.pprune.org/private-flying...fordshire.html

Totally disgusted by Sky News reporting on the accident, ......two feared dead in light aircraft crash on railway lines in Staffordshire......all this on the day when rail fares increased blaah blaah, inconvenienced travellers etc followed by the next 30mins live from the site with the Skycopter.

They really have lost the plot.

While I'm not so sure about posting the reg, who is to say Chessman doesn't have intimate knowledge?

He hails from Wolverhampton: could have links with the a/c.

Anything's possible.

Still a dreadful start to the new year.

Cusco

I apologise if i have upset anybody but the reg can clearly be seen on the footage on sky news.It is not my intention to offend anybody and if the reg was not seen on the news i would not have posted it.It is always a great shame when a plane goes down and my heart too goes out to the families involved

In all fairness, it didn't take batvision to piece the letters together from the air to ground footage.

Anyway, a sad loss and a tragic start to the new year. I also pole through that lump of sky quite often.

This is a pilots site. As a pilot I recognise that flying can be dangerous. If an aeroplane similar to the type that I fly has crashed, I would like to know the details as soon as possible. This is not mawkish curiosity, but a simple matter of flight safety.

Chessman's first post. He didn't realise the avalanche of hatred that would fall upon him.

How many car crashes have killed people today? Every time we fly there is always the possibility of an accident but that is a calculated risk. Same risk for the PA 140 pilot. Frankly the sentimental RIP stuff is unnecessary IMHO.

First off, condolences to those who have been affected by todays accident. Sad news indeed.

Whats the big deal about a reg being posted? Sky have been blasting part of the reg to the millions on the news?

Sorry, but I'm on Cheesmans side. Like it or not this is a RUMOUR network. If you only want facts go to the BBC website.

Already been deleted from R&N by super-mods.

It's continuing in the Private Flying forum - and no doubt a "West Coast Mainline" forum (somewhere).

DO you only get facts on the BBC ?

So sorry to hear this news, on the start of a new year. RIP, I am sure everyone will be thinking of the families. Very sad.

It's not an issue about posting the reg, just the timing within hours of the crash. I just think it was a little insensitive to those who flew with the people who perished, who may indeed read this thread.
On a need to know basis we need to know why it crashed ASAP (I also fly a PA28) but do we need to broadcast the victims names yet?
Anyway.... it's hardly a hanging offence so lets move on & find out what happened.

and

Sometimes I'm not too sure if it's not the other way round :E

Seriously - I'm also with Chessman. If anything like that ever happens to me, please do post the reg - it will at least put those not affected to ease.

Not a great start to the year for GA. Guess the journos will now add train lines to the convents/schools/playgrounds, etc...

Posting a registration is not insensitive - it allows us all a quick verification either way whether we knew the a/c involved. Checking on flying friends and family is the reason I logged on to proon having seen tonight's 6 oclock news.

I'm with Chessman et al here. I don't think it insensitive to post information that's already in the public domain (TV news and the Sky web site, and probably elsewhere). What would be insensitive would be to speculate on blame, and no one's yet commenting on the cause, let alone allocating blame.

I am stunned! I believe this aircraft took off from sittles farm over my house this morning and then was pottering around the local area just as I left to go and book some hours at east mids.

Speechless...

Let's be sensible. If data is already in the public domain, reporting it here will inform only those who know of the network. An anology is when military personnel are killed on active service: the fact is reported and the name withheld until next of kin are informed. I would hope no networker would access G-INFO and then telephone an owner's spouse!

What will be more instructive for a pilot, is what caused the accident. Was it the result of carb icing?

(1) I doubt very much that we'll know for some considerable time. AAIB investigations are thorough, but not necessarily quick.

(2) Given how cold it's been, carb icing seems unlikely, there won't have been much liquid water in the air. Also PA28s tend not to sneak up on you like that with sudden carb icing. That said, I've no doubt it's on the long list of possibilities that AAIB will be looking at.


My sympathies, of course, to the friends and family of those on board. Not a good start to the year.

G

I also appreciate finding out Registrations as soon as possible once published. That area is also on the number 1 Cross country route from Halfpenny Green (Wolverhampton) and I know many Walsall based pilots (actually living in Walsall myself) who have shares in/or own Piper Aircraft.

It is quite common for News agencies to mix up the type of aircraft on early reports, so knowing it is not one of your friends as early as possible is quite re-assuring.

Meantime, my condolances are with the families and friends of those involved.

It looks from the witness reports that one wing dropped and it went vertically down at high prop speed.

Nothing left of the aircraft.

A bad and very sad start to the year.

Pace

Very sad start to the new year....


But as a pilot who likes to keep alive by examining accidents and hopefully learning from them, I'm puzzled by this.

We must of course learn from the AAIB report when it is published, but the accident site would look like a loss of control impact. No apparent mayday / PAN call, doesn't look like forced landing attempt, or maybe loss of control / stall trying to avoid relatively closeby houses.

LF

Insensitive and stupid comments
 

Read this on BT Yahoo News,I think her day has been somewhat less spoiled than that of the victims and their families.

What a ****. Who cares what peter kay has to say....sorry katy kay.

To say I felt sick when I saw the headline is putting it mildly. I learned to fly at HGFC and flew the No1 Xcountry route a few times so the possibility of it being someone I knew is high. I now fly mainly from Shobdon and I have a dreadful feeling that the aircraft was based there. I'm hoping I am wrong but I'm sure there is one with a very similar registration if it isn't that one. This would be the second person / aircraft I know which has crashed in less than 12 months with fatal results. My sympathy to the families and friends of the deceased. RIP.