RAF pilot killed in crash after his engine failed

AN EXPERIENCED RAF test pilot who was killed during a training flight died when his plane suffered engine failure and crashed, an inquest has concluded.

Flight Lieutenant Alex Parr, 40, a tutor at the Empire Test Pilots’ School at Boscombe Down, died when the Yak-52 civilian aircraft crashed during an emergency landing close to Dinton airfield in Wiltshire in July 2016.

An inquest jury at Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner’s Court in Salisbury returned a narrative conclusion.

It said: “On July 8 2016, Fl Lt Alex Parr was taking part in a training flight in a Yak-52 aircraft.

“During the flight the engine suffered fuel starvation causing loss of engine power. After various attempts to restart the engine a forced landing was deemed necessary.

“At 10.34am the aircraft crashed adjacent to a farm strip in Dinton resulting in the death of Flt Lt Parr, who was pronounced dead at the scene at 11.20am.”

It added: “The jury believe that the late decision to change the landing site from the wheat field to a farm strip probably contributed to the accident and death of Fl Lt Parr.”

Following the jury’s conclusion, Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner David Ridley said he would be writing a preventing future deaths report to the Civil Aviation Authority highlighting his concerns about issues raised during an inquiry by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch into the fatality.

The 10-day hearing heard that civilian pilot John Calverley, 62, who was commanding the flight, was taking Fl Lt Parr on a demonstration flight.

Fl Lt Parr, who was sitting in the front seat of the two-seater Soviet Union-designed aerobatic plane, was thrown clear after impact when his safety belt mechanism failed.