Two killed in accident near Bournemouth IA
 

Two Killed in Helicopter Crash

By Martin Halfpenny, PA News

Two people were killed when a helicopter crashed near an airport, police said tonight.

The civilian chopper was believed to have been en route from London when it crashed into a field near Pitt House Farm about one mile from Bournemouth International Airport at 7.42pm.

Police said two bodies were recovered from the wreckage.

Officers were tonight scouring the immediate area of the crash site in case there could be other bodies.

Air accident investigators from Farnborough in Hampshire were on their way to the scene.

source

Helicopter crash kills two
10.05PM, 3 Mar 2004

Two people have been killed in a helicopter crash near Bournemouth International Airport in Hurn, Dorset.

Eyewitnesses said the chopper burst into flames on impact after crashing on a strip of land between the River Avon and the busy A338 dual carriageway.

Rescuers said it was "a miracle" that the aircraft missed nearby traffic.

"We sent three ambulances, two officers and an immediate response car and paramedics were on scene within a few minutes of the call," a Dorset Ambulance Service spokesman said.

"Sadly, the aircraft was well ablaze and the casualties were trapped inside it. There was nothing that could be done to save them."

A spokesman for Dorset Fire Service said: "We can confirm that a helicopter has come down near Bournemouth International Airport and burst into flames, killing two people on board.

"We were called at 7.40pm to reports of the aircraft well alight. Fire crews from Dorset and the airport are at the scene trying to put out the fire."

source

Chopper down
 

Just heard on the news a chopper down in Bournemouth 2 killed aircraft destroyed. Aircraft from London

BBC News are reporting that the aircraft was an Augusta from the Basildon area of Essex

RC

Does anyone have any idea on the aircraft type yet, media reports say Agusta and there are not really that many of them in the UK are there.

Autorotate.

I've been told the following.
I stress this is UNCONFIRMED

Augusta 109E
G-PWER
Based Hurn, possibly at Red Helicopters
Professional Pilot

I've been told the pilot's name but it wouldn't be right to give it on the forum because it hasn't yet been formally released and, more important, because my information comes from a single source and I haven't been able to confirm it.

I have confirmed that G-PWER is an A109E, and is registered to a local company at Poole near Bournemouth.

FL

Meridian TV report this morning

Quote:

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Helicopter crashes in Dorset killing two
4 Mar, 2004, 6:29

---

The report doesn't say who's meant by "It's thought" so no idea if there's an informed basis for that, or just journo speculation.


============

For Rotorheads not familiar with UK geography, Bournemouth (Hurn) is on the South Coast of England, about 100 nm SSW of London
http://www.flybournemouth.com/images/numap.jpg

Just got off the phone with a friend there in the UK who has an associate at the crash site. Indications are were that it hit the top line of a main power line. Now this is not 100% confirmed but just some feedback I got that thought would pass along.

Condolences to the friends and family of the pilot and passenger.

Autororate :( :(

I've now confirmed the pilot's name and that his family were informed soon after the crash.

Sadly, Max Radford was killed last night.

I'm told he used to work at Redhill before moving to Red Aviation at Hurn.

My condolences to his friends and family.


NB:
To avoid any confusion, although registered to a company at Sunseeker House, the A109 which crashed isn't owned by Sunseeker Boats.
(Sunseeker House is an office block with several tenants.)

FL, I think it's even more confusing that that in reality. It is worth pointing out that the owner is also not related to another company with Sunseeker in the name who

- own an N reg A109 Mk.II
- are not related to Sunseeker, the boat manufacturer (bet they wish they had trademarked the name...)
- operate from the same street selling preowned boats
- have rally interests

pp

Thanks ppheli

I thought it might be rather confusing to go into that amount of detail, but you may be right.
All I was trying to do was prevent people who might check the CAA's online database for an Agusta 109 in the Bournemouth area, and see the owner's registered address from:

wrongly jumping to the conclusion that the A109 associated with the 'Sunseeker' name was involved and,

more important,

wrongly assuming that the pilot we associate with the Sunseeker helicopter was one of the two men sadly killed. He is alive and well - we spoke this morning.

Tudor

My condolences to his family and friends.

Very sad to loose another colleague.

T. H.

Max was a good friend.

My thoughts are with his family.

Details of the pax now released:

British head of Yukos holding dies in helicopter crash
AFP 3/4

A British lawyer, Stephen Curtis, who was managing director of the holding group for embattled Russian oil giant Yukos has died in a helicopter crash in southern England, a Menatep Group spokesman in Russia told AFP.

British police announced late Wednesday that two people had died in a civilian helicopter crash at Bournemouth near the southern coast.

The helicopter, believed to have been flying from London, came down in a field about one mile (1.6 kilometres) from the airport and two bodies were recovered from the wreckage.

Stephen Curtis was appointed as managing director of Menatep Group in mid-November until Platon Lebedev, the group's chairman currently in prison and under investigation for fraud, was able to resume his functions,

Menatep, registered in Gibraltar, is the largest shareholder in Russia's largest oil company Yukos whose former chief executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested at gunpoint in October and is being held in preventive detention on charges of fraud and tax evasion.

Lebedev's arrest on July 2 triggered a string of investigations into Yukos which observers have interpreted as a crackdown against Khodorkovsky's political opposition to President Vladimir Putin.

:(

I/C

AAIB now say that they DO NOT believe the helicopter struck the power lines located near the field.

Did not know Max or Stephen but have heard alot of good things about them since the accident.
RIP.

From tonight's London Evening Standard:

Tycoon's lawyer dies in crash

A lawyer with close links to Russian tycoons Roman Abramovich and Boris Berezovsky has died in a mysterious helicopter crash.

Stephen Curtis, who was until recently a partner of solicitors Curtis & Company, died when the Augusta helicopter that he owned crashed a mile from Bournemouth airport. The accident also claimed the life of the pilot.

An inquiry by the Air Accident Investigation Branch is under way today after it emerged that the helicopter, which had taken off from London's Battersea heliport, crashed in a field east of the airport in Dorset.

The accident happened shortly before 8pm last night.

Mr Curtis, 45, is understood to have acted as lawyer to Mr Berezovsky and several other UK-based oligarchs who oppose Russian president Vladimir Putin. Mr Curtis had also recently been involved with Mr Abramovich's bid to take over a major Russian oil company.

Mr Berezovsky, Britain's richest refugee, is regarded as a mentor to billionaire Chelsea FC owner Abramovich. He is wanted on fraud charges in Moscow but, after being arrested in London, was granted political asylum.

The Russian authorities are chasing Mr Berezovsky on charges that he and an associate defrauded a regional government of the equivalent of £8 million during the mid-1990s.

Locals reported hearing the helicopter's twin engines struggling as it passed overhead, moments before a loud explosion in the field.

Air traffic controllers raised the alarm when they suddenly lost contact with the helicopter and no Mayday call was sent by the pilot.

Witness Sarah Price, who lives in one of four detached houses just 300 yards from the crash scene, said she heard silence before a loud explosion.

The 26-year-old dental nurse said: "My husband and I have lived under the flight path to the airport for a year or so. We had always dreaded the thought of something terrible like this happening. There was just a period of silence in the moments before the explosion so I guess the engines must have cut out.

"Then I heard a massive bang and rushed up to the window and just saw this big fireball across the field."

The debris of the wreckage was strewn across a quarter of a mile. The bodies of the two victims were taken to a mortuary at Boscombe. A post mortem is due to take place tomorrow.

Mr Curtis was also the MD of the $30billion holding company Group Menatep Ltd, which has interests in the Russian oil industry.

Leonid Nevzlin, a colleague at Group Menatep, said: "Stephen was a great friend and colleague."

Mr Berezovsky, an influential insider in Boris Yeltsin's Kremlin, is one of the few so-called oligarchs - men who made fortunes following the 1991 Soviet collapse - to face prosecution after Mr Putin's pledge to crack down on them.

Knew Max out in California, nice guy. Enjoyed a beer and a laugh. RIP

Trained in California at the same time as Max.

Many good memories.

May you Rest In Peace.

When I heard the first reports this morning, I feared the worst, but hoped for the best. Unfortunatly I then heard that I had lost a colleague and a friend.
Despite his quirkiness, Max was a good, kind and fun person, with boundless energy and zest.
From his days at Panshanger, with G-XTEC, and fond memories of the Summer Barbeques. To his more recent exploits at Bournemouth.
I’ll never forget when Red Aviation was in the making, walking up and down the roads in Bournemouth with him picking out the nice looking cars and putting leaflets under the wipers, frozen to the core but soldiering on for the cause.
His dedication and enthusiasm will never be forgotten, and I for one know that there will be a hole in my life where Max used to be.

My condolences to all Friends and Relatives of both Max and Stephen

May you rest in peace Max, you’ll not be forgotten.

Just found out. Can't bloody believe it. I trained with Max back in '95 in California. We have truly lost a great character, warm and down right hilarious at times. I'll miss you, Max.

I had the great privilege of teaching Max to fly in California back in 1994. He was an instant friend and I've been in close contact with him ever since we both came back to the UK. I've seen him go from Flight instructor at Panshanger to making a great success of Red Aviation.

We've shared some great times and always had a laugh. If there is one thing that you could count on Max being, it was great fun. He was a kind warm-hearted guy who would do anything to help out his friends.

I'm glad you came to see us a couple of weeks ago to meet Chloe for the first time. I'll make sure she hears your name when she's older and knows all about you.

Rest in peace matey and don't go buzzing the Pearly Gates too often! You'll be sadly missed mate and will be forever in our hearts.