‘Arrogant crash pilot still thinks he’s a hero’
MAN WHO ENDANGERED LIVES AND NARROWLY MISSED HITTING M62 IN OVERLOADED PLANE JAILED
A ‘GREEDY and arrogant’ pilot who crashed his plane while narrowly missing the M62 has been jailed for three-and-a-half-years.
Robert Murgatroyd, 52, of Windy Harbour Road, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, was sentenced yesterday after being found guilty of endangering the lives of passengers, three bird watchers who wanted to see a rare bird on a remote island.
The 45-year-old Piper Cherokee plane owned by the defendant was severely overloaded. It took off from Barton Aerodrome towards the M62 but crashed into a potato field shortly after.
During a police interview after the crash, in which the passengers luckily only sustained minor injuries, Murgatroyd tried to portray himself as the ‘hero of the moment.’
At Manchester Crown Court, the judge branded him ‘arrogant.’
Murgatroyd said the crash was a deliberate act aimed at saving the lives of his passengers, and claimed a film should be made about him.
His trial was the first crown court trial in the UK of a pilot accused of reckless endangerment of an aircraft, or of illegal public transport.
Sentencing, Judge Michael Leeming told Murgatroyd: “Had your aircraft crash landed onto the motorway, fully laden with fuel as this aircraft was, I am sure that there would have been a scene of carnage and lives would have been lost.”
The judge added: “You are a cavalier operator, and effectively an air accident waiting to happen.”
Senior investigating officer Lee Westhead from GMP added: “Make no mistake, this could quite easily have been a truly terrible disaster – all caused because one man saw an opportunity to make a quick buck.”
After the American Redstart bird was spotted in the Isle of Barra, in the Outer Hebrides, the race was on for avid bird watchers to get there and take pictures.
Murgatroyd organised the flight to the island on Saturday, September 9, 2017. During a test run, the plane’s acceleration was ‘sluggish’ and the aircraft ‘showed no sign of lifting off the ground,’ prosecutors said.
Later it was revealed that the plane was more than 400lbs overweight.
At trial, Murgatroyd said he had forgot to include his own weight.
Prosecutor Henry Blackshaw claimed that Murgatroyd was greedy, and stood to make a profit of £1,000 from the round trip.
The jury ruled Murgatroyd had run a commercial flight, which is illegal for those holding a private pilot’s licence. He claimed it was a cost sharing agreement, which is allowed.
Murgatroyd was found guilty of seven offences. Defending, Hugh O’Donoghue said he accepted he had overloaded the plane, and was ‘embarrassed’ and ‘ashamed’ by it.
The court heard Murgatroyd has a previous conviction in relation to a fatal plane crash in Switzerland.