Student and instructor walked away from microlight crash unhurt
A training flight is one a student pilot is never going to forget – it ended in a crash landing but the student and instructor survived unhurt
One minute the Quik GT450 Microlight was cruising along at 1,500 ft – the next moment it had turned into a glider as the engine died.
All attempts to re-start it also failed.
The incident happened on the evening of May 10 as the tiny 2008 built aircraft – reg G CFEX – owned by Heather Wilson of Tudor House, North Road, Kingsland, Leominster, with the student pilot and an instructor on board suffered an engine failure.
The microlight had been flying for 30 minutes at the time.
The instructor immediately took control and prepared for a forced landing in a field ahead. And, as the tiny aircraft descended he continued without success to attempt to re-start the engine.
The incident is spotlighted in a newly published air-crash report.
The report says that at about 200 feet above the ground the instructor took steps to avoid trees and a tall hedge at the field he had chosen.
He then turned towards a nearer field, overflew some power lines and landed.
However, he was unable to avoid the microlight hitting a fallen tree during its landing roll and sustaining serious damage.
But the report says that both the instructor and student were able to walk away unhurt from the microlight, which had suffered extensive damage.
A question mark still hangs over the reason for the engine failure. The report gives no reason why that should have happened.
