Student pilot among dead as plane and helicopter collide

AN AVIATION student who dreamt of becoming a pilot was killed along with three other people when his plane hit a helicopter near the Rothschilds’ estate in Buckinghamshire on Friday.

Friends paid tribute to 18-year-old Saavan Mundae, from Buckinghamshire New University’s aviation course, saying he died doing what he “loved and believed in”.

Also killed when the student’s Cessna 152 crashed into a helicopter was his flight instructor, the helicopter pilot, and his passenger. Capt Mike Green, the pilot of the helicopter, had taken a passenger on a “gift sightseeing tour” when his helicopter was hit. Capt Green’s employer, Helicopter Services, last night said they were “devastated”.

“Mike was conducting a flight instructor course and was with a student at the time of the incident. Both pilots lost their lives,” they said.

Both aircraft disintegrated on impact and plummeted to the ground. They had taken off a short time earlier from an airfield where air traffic control had been shut due to “staff shortages”.

Wreckage from the two aircraft landed just over a mile from the former home of the Rothschild banking family at Waddesdon Manor, in Buckinghamshire. Thames Valley Police confirmed last night that the four bodies of the men were still at the crash scene and had not yet been recovered.