Death crash pilot was not qualif ied to f ly in bad weather
A PILOT who died along with his passenger when their plane crashed in thick fog was not qualified to fly in the poor weather conditions, an inquest heard.
Tony Woodward, 62, was flying home with friend Robert Archer, 57, after they had completed a charity ascent of Ben Nevis.
Visibility was down to about 130ft when their chartered Piper PA-28 Cherokee hit the sea off Skipness, on the Kintyre peninsula, the hearing was told.
Both men were said to have died on impact from their injuries in the accident on May 25, 2017. The aircraft was found to have been travelling at almost 150mph and had descended at 500ft a minute.
There had been ‘no significant reduction in air speed during the final minutes of the flight’.
The men had flown from Carlisle Lake District Airport to Oban, Argyll, five days earlier and climbed Ben Nevis for the Shooting Star Chase children’s charity with a friend, Peter Ogilvie. He wrote about their trek, saying the team was ‘hugely proud’ of their achievement to raise more than £2,000.
The inquest at Walthamstow Coroner’s Court, east London, was into the death of Mr Archer, from Romford, Essex.
A post-mortem examination found that he had suffered ‘multiple injuries’.
Concluding that Mr Archer’s death was ‘accidental’, coroner Graeme Irving said: ‘The evidence points to the presence of low stratus clouds or fog south of Lochgilphead.
‘It’s likely the visibility had reduced from the limit of 1,500m (almost a mile) which is required in the visual flight rules … and as such the aircraft was being flown in IMC
‘The visibility had reduced’
(instrument meteorological conditions) circumstances.’
He said Mr Woodward had undergone 12.5 hours of ‘instrument flying’ training, but ‘was not qualified and had not completed the required training to fly unsupervised in IMC conditions’.
Air traffic controllers raised the alarm after communication with the aircraft stopped. Floating wreckage and the men’s bodies were later recovered from the sea.
The inquest heard Mr Woodward had used a shortcut to his flight plan on both legs of their journey, which avoided having to fly over hills.
An Air Accidents Investigation Branch report noted two ferries operating in the area of the accident site had suspended services that day due to poor visibility.