Plane crashed at Bournemouth Airport after instructor's mistake (From Thisisdorset)

Plane crashed at Bournemouth Airport after instructor's mistake

7:00pm Thursday 9th July 2009 in

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A SMALL aircraft crash-landed during a training flight because the instructor failed to notice the landing gear hadd not been down, an investigation concluded.

The 45-year-old admitted the accident was due to “instructor error” but gave a list of “contributory factors” as to why it happened at Bournemouth Airport in April.

The instructor, who has not been named, said in mitigation it was the last landing of the last flight of the day; that a discussion with students may have distracted him; and that the student at the controls had been diligent in previous approaches.

The aircraft, a 30-year-old Beech 76 Duchess, was operated by Professional Flight Training, based at the airport.It crash-landed at 5.45pm on Thursday April 16 when the aircraft landed 800 metres beyond where it should. Two students and the instructor escaped without injury but the plane was damaged beyond economic repair.

A full inquiry into the incident has been carried out by the Air Accident Investigation Branch.

It revealed the instructor holds a commercial pilot’s licence and has more than 1,800 hours of flying experience Police, fire and ambulance crews were called at the time of the accident and the airport was temporarily closed to allow for the runway to be cleared.

The incident came just two weeks after another Beech Duchess was forced to make an emergency landing at Bournemouth Airport when one wheel failed to deploy.