Pilot doing aerobatics before fatal crash - report

Air accident investigators have been unable to find the likely cause of a fatal crash because the aircraft was so badly fire damaged.

A 65-year-old pilot who was doing aerobatics at Spanhoe Airfield, in Northamptonshire, died when his two-seater plane went into a spin and hit the ground.

In its report into the crash, which happened on 13 July 2024, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said fire damage "prevented a complete assessment" of the plane's controls.

But it said it was possible the pilot, who was sole occupant of the Extra EA-200 aircraft, may have been "incapacitated" by g-forces experienced during his manoeuvres.

The AAIB report said the pilot had flown the aircraft from Fowlmere Airfield, in Cambridgeshire, to Spanhoe Airfield to meet a friend.

It revealed he had at least 4,000 hours of flying experience and was "a qualified aerobatics instructor and had also competed in aerobatic competitions".

The aircraft, said the report, was captured on CCTV as it approached the boundary of the airfield.

"On arrival at the airfield, the pilot flew a fly past before pitching up to the vertical during which he performed a number of aileron rolls," the report stated.

"At the apex of the climb, the aircraft was manoeuvred, entering a flat spin to the left from which it was not recovered before it struck the ground by the entrance track to the airfield."

The report said the low-level aerobatics manoeuvres had not been approved.

The report concluded: "Although there was no evidence found in the post-mortem, it is possible that the pilot was incapacitated to some degree."

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