Plane crash at Kidlington

[Hagar]

I heard about this on BBC radio news. No details apart from the fact it was a "light aircraft". Knowing the accuracy of the usual media reports on anything to do with aviation this could be anything from a microlight to a bizjet.

Three killed in plane crash


The plane was "crushed like cardboard"
Three people were killed when their light aircraft flipped upside down and crashed near an airfield after narrowly missing a busy dual-carriageway.
The single-engine four-seater plane came down in a field as it tried to land after a flight from Brussels at Oxford Aiport in Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

Everyone on board was killed in the crash at 1120 GMT on Saturday.

Thames Valley Police say the victims were a French man and woman, both passengers, and a male Belgian pilot.

Sergeant Adrian Wappner told BBC News a "routine flight" had "come into difficulties".

"We have got witnesses and an investigation will be taking place in conjunction with Thames Valley Police," he added.

The aircraft narrowly missed the A44 road next to the airfield, which has been closed by police between Bladon and Langford Lane.

Fire crews and the air ambulance were also at the scene.


The plane nearly came down onto a dual-carriageway next to the airfield

Pilot Mark Coombs, from Charlbury, witnessed the accident from his car as he drove south on the motorway.

He said: "The aircraft appeared to be making a fairly normal approach at about 200-300 yards before the end of the runway.

"It made a level left turn and rolled to the left and then went down, almost spiralling perpendicularly."

A BBC Radio Oxford reporter at the scene said the aircraft had been "crushed like cardboard".

About 30 police officers were in attendance.

[Craig.]

i saw it on sky news earlier. It looked like a piper warrior or simillar type of low wing light aircraft. it was a wreck to say the least.
Very sad to see/

[Fozzer]

...speculate...?
The dreaded "wind shear" at the last minute...?
Slow speed stall, left wing drop....?

Paul.

[Hagar]

Foz. From past experience I don't think there's any point in speculating. It's best left to the experts who I'm sure are already on site. I have no idea of what the weather was like at the time of this unfortunate incident let alone anything else. I've heard no witness reports to suggest if the engines were running beforehand which, if they weren't might possibly indicate lack of fuel. These reports tend to be unreliable anyway unless they come from someone familiar with aircraft.

[IanR]

May the families and dependants of these poor souls find the strength to sustain them after this tragedy.

deo volente

IanR

[BFMF]

Very sad. There's already been a cargo plane and a helicopter that's been crashed in my area within the last couple weeks

[ozzy72]

I've just read about this on the Guardian website
They haven't specified an aircraft type, but from the eyewitnesses it sounds like a stall. The plane had come from Belgium.

Ozzy

[Woodlouse2002]

Eye witnesses report that it went back over its self before crashing. Sounds like he pulled up too sharply and went over backwards.

[C]

One of the main rules of reporting ari accidents, don't believe everything eyewitnesses have "seen"...

Charlie

[Maccers]

Especially in a specialised subject like aviation, could be low speed and being below glideslope, pulled up to gain height and stalled. Could of been windsheer. I'm not saying anything, lets leave it to the experts.
My condolences go to the family and friends of those involved in this terrible incident

[chomp_rock]

How sad. It sounds like a stall followed by an over-correction.

[Jared]

[Fozzer]

I purchase most of the "Pilot" magazines each month and I read the AAIB, (Air Accident Investigation Board)  reports, together with CHIRP, (Confidential Human Incident Reporting Program) reports.
Many of the accidents can be created in Flight Sim using realistic settings, and they are probably the sort of procedures that real pilots experience using professional flight simulators.

We are the lucky ones, in that we always survive to try again, and get it right next time..!

That is the difference between sim flying for fun and real-life flying, when getting "things" wrong can be fatal..(a very bad word)...!

With all our sim flying and real-life flying things will always go "pear-shaped" and it's the luck of the draw, and occasionally skill, wether or not we survive  it.
Hopefully, we live and learn to get it right next time... ...!

In my early years of flying, (1950's), in my old Auster in the Army, when things occasionally went a bit "wrong", I survived them mostly by sheer luck rather than years of experience.
...which goes to show that flying can be a very dangerous past-time, no matter how expert you think you are... ...!
Any altitude, other than zero feet AGL, should be treated with great caution.. ...!.....LOL...!

Cheers all.. ...!
Paul

[Ivan]

The main shareholder of the Carrefour supermarket (France) has been identified as on of the casualties

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3298037.stm

[Hagar]

As yet I have seen nothing to identify the type or make of aircraft, apart from the fact it was single-engined. From the photos I've seen it looks like a low-wing type. The witness reports of it "looping back on itself" seem highly unusual. This makes me wonder if there was some sort of severe structural failure or that the pilot himself was incapacitated.