Air crash plane had a corroded engine

TWO “good friends” killed after their plane crashed on the Queen’s Sandringham estate were unaware that the aircraft had been parked outside for seven months, leading to a corroded engine, an inquest heard.

Pilot Nigel Dodds, 58, and passenger Valerie Barnes, 73, both from Gateshead, died when the Piper PA-28 aircraft came down in marshland near Wolferton, Norfolk, on Sept 11 last year.

They both died at the scene of multiple injuries, and an inquest in Norwich yesterday concluded they were killed as the result of an accident.

The pair had been flying in the aircraft, which was owned by a syndicate, from London Southend Airport to Newcastle International Airport.

It was the final leg of a journey home from Menorca, where Mr Dodds, a retired company director, had a home.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) crash report concluded that “the aircraft’s engine had not been maintained according to the manufacturer’s instructions whilst it was not used for long periods and parked outside”.

The plane was kept outside between November 2015 and July 2016, and Robert Vickery, an AAIB investigator, told yesterday’s hearing that parts of the engine were found to have corroded.

The inquest heard that the plane crashed into an old sea wall after its engine failed.

Mr Dodds transmitted a Mayday call while flying over The Wash, the estuary between Norfolk and Lincolnshire, stating he had a “very rough running engine”.

He turned the plane back to the coast and told an emergency controller he could not reach the nearest airfield, stating: “It’s going to be a field.”

Pc Mark Whitmore, who was patrolling the Sandringham estate, was called to the scene and tried to help Mr Dodds and Ms Barnes.

“The plane had landed on a huge earth bank described as the sea wall,” he said, adding that it soon became clear both occupants had suffered “catastrophic injuries”.

In a statement after the inquest, the family of Mr Dodds said: “The aircraft was overtaken by a very sudden emergency and Nigel did the best that could be done.”