A FATHER of one of five pilots killed in a plane crash over Coombe
Abbey has slammed the findings of an inquest into their deaths.
Alan
Beagley, father of 34-year-old Warwick man James Beagley, said he was
hugely disappointed after the jury was unable to attach blame to any
person or organisation for the part they played in the crash.
The
jury concluded the mid-air collision, on August 17, 2008, happened after
the pilots either did not see each other or did not have time to take
avoiding action.
The verdict mirrors that of an investigation by
aviation experts in 2010 - and Mr Beagley branded it nonsense to come
back to the same conclusion as that report.
"My grandson could have come to that conclusion," he said.
"My
honest response to the verdict is huge disappointment only tempered by
the fact that ten days ago, before the inquest started, it was explained
to us that once again we are in this position where they are not going
to apportion blame and I struggle with that.
"It's disappointing
personally because of our loss and the loss of the other families, but
also it is disappointing the system does not have a structure whereby
they can correct the inadequacies.
"I've never been so exhausted from sitting down for the whole week."
Mr
Beagley, originally from High Wycombe, had been a passenger on one of
the aircraft along with 28-year-old John 'Harvey' Antrobus, from
Fillongley, and pilots Sophie Hastings, 28, from Derbyshire, and Sybille
Gautrey, 33, from Towcester.
Their Cessna 402 collided with a
kit-plane Rand KR-2, piloted by 70-year-old Brian Normington, from
Blackdown, near Leamington. All involved in the crash, around 1,000ft in
the skies over Coombe Abbey, were killed.
Coroner Sean McGovern,
who oversaw the inquest at Leamington Justice Centre, said technical
language heard throughout the hearing had made it difficult for the jury
to come to a decision. Their verdict said four factors had contributed
to the crash.
The Cessna crew had all been employees of
Baginton-based Reconnaissance Ventures and were carrying out specific
work, called Calibration Training, which saw their plane travel 40 knots
faster than usual.
But the jury said while the operator
considered risks associated with the flight, it did not discuss the work
with Air Traffic Control (ATC) management.
The landing sequence
planned by controllers was 'unlikely to succeed', the jury said, after
the nature of the flight was not fully taken into account.
Errors
by ATC included no information being provided to Mr Normington about the
presence of the Cessna, which compromised his ability to see and avoid
it.
Inaccurate information was also passed to the Cessna's crew over the position of the kit plane.
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