Shropshire Star

Microlight crash which killed pop star's ex-instructor and passenger was 'accident'

An air crash that killed a pop star’s former flying instructor and another man was an accident, an inquest jury has concluded.

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Nick Jefferies with One Direction star Harry Styles

Nick Jefferies, aged 54, who was an experienced pilot, and his son’s friend Scott Penlington, 25, from Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, died in the crash at Cwm Bach, on September 18, 2016.

A jury inquest was held over two days in Welshpool Town Hall, and today the jury returned a decision that the crash was an accident.

The jury agreed the aircraft suffered a structural failure, but it was unclear what had caused that failure.

Jurors had heard how the microlight aircraft the pair were in went out of control and fell spinning into a field.

Witnesses giving evidence told how the plane sputtered and coughed before the engine cut out at Cwm Bach, near Builth Wells, on September 18.

Nick Jefferies, left, and Scott Penlington

On the day of the flight, Mr Jefferies, who had previously given flying lessons to One Direction star Harry Styles, was going to Swansea to meet his son.

Rebecca Fleck, whose land the plane crashed on, said she had been walking when she saw the plane coming down, and she described it as ‘having no noise and spinning like a seed’.

The inquest continued when the jury heard from various witnesses, including the Aircraft Accident Investigation Branch.

They also heard from people who knew Mr Jefferies and who had seen him at the airfield he took off from on the morning of the crash.

In his summing up of the case, Coroner for South and Mid Wales, Andrew Barkley, said Mr Jefferies had been described as a very thorough and conservative pilot.

The AAIB found there had been structural failure in the wing, and an expert said it was due to an overload or stress on the wing.

The jury was also told how the vehicle was travelling at 97mph, but that had increased to 120 mph, which would have increased the pressure.

After the jury’s conclusion, sympathy was expressed to the victims’ families.

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