Shoreham crash pilot died a hero

The pilot lost control of his plane on its maiden flight after a mid-air collision with another aircraft but managed to wrestle the doomed vehicle away from the A27 and pedestrians before it plummeted to the ground.

Eyewitnesses reported hearing three loud bangs “like an engine backfiring” before seeing a huge plume of smoke rising into the air.

Last night police and accident investigators were trying to determine exactly what happened.

The crash, at Adur Recreation Ground, happened at 4.30pm yesterday. The pilot, who was from the Shoreham area, was flying a RV6 kit plane.

A source at Shoreham Airport said: “It had been kitted out with all the latest navigation equipment and was on its maiden flight.”

The other aircraft involved, a Diamond Star DA40 plane, landed safely at Shoreham Airport minutes later.

Picture by Nick Bengtsson

The plane belonged to Flying Time Aviation, a pilot training school based at Shoreham Airport.

Fire crews, police and paramedics rushed to the scene after the crash.

Superintendent Neil Honnor, from Sussex Police, said: “We don't know exactly what happened. The pilot obviously found somewhere away from the houses to come down.”

He said a potentially even greater tragedy had been averted. It is believed a dog walker had a lucky escape when the pilot swerved out of her way.

A South East Coast Ambulance spokesman said: “We checked over one patient, an adult male, who was uninjured but was obviously pretty shaken up, who I believe was the pilot of the other aircraft.

"There was nothing that could be done for the other pilot.”

Jonathan Candelon, the operations director of Flying Time Aviation, said both pilots operating the Diamond Star aircraft were uninjured in the incident.

He said: “Even though the aircraft was completely disabled the pilot managed to land it back at the airport. He did a very good job in the circumstances.”

In a statement, Flying Time Aviation said: “We have been training pilots since April 2006, and have never before had a serious incident during the history of our flight training organisation. Safety is and always has been our main priority.”

Police established a cordon around the wreckage at Adur Recreation Ground and at Beach Green, where some of the wreckage fell.

An Air Accidents Investigation Branch spokesman said: “We are aware of the incident and we have sent a team of investigators to the site.”

Sandra O'Kane, 48, a mature student, said the pilot of the blue and cream Vans plane heroically wrestled the stricken craft away from the town and the A27.

She said: "The pilot must have known he had no chance of surviving but he fought to turn it around.

"He was incredibly brave."

Sophie Wiltshire was lying on the beach when a large piece of a propeller landed metres away.

Miss Wiltshire, 30, said: “I was watching a plane flying in the sky and all of a sudden heard this crunch.

“I looked up and this blue and white plane was flying like it was out of control. I could see a piece of wing falling down.

“People started shouting ‘Oh my God, oh my God’, and I heard this huge thud and this huge bit of propeller landed just four metres away.

“I was really lucky. I had to have a stiff drink.”

Rob Piatt, 41, from Shoreham, was in The Bridge pub beer garden when he saw the planes collide.

He said: “I heard the back of the aircraft pop and we saw someone desperately trying to steer round.

“It was only a small aircraft, a two or four-seater. It came down really quickly.”

Mark Goodwin, 28, from Shoreham, said: “We were driving along the road and it happened right next to us. There was a lady walking her dog in the park and he managed to miss her.”

Nick Bengtsson, 50, said: “The plane was obviously in a lot of trouble heading towards the children’s playground. It just missed a dad and his kid – it’s a miracle that no one else was killed.”

Andy Cloke was fishing with his son Charlie, nine, when the plane came down.

Mr Cloke said: “I heard planes going around and one suddenly hit another and started going down at a 45-degree angle.

“It was a very small plane and it suddenly crashed. There was a lot of smoke coming out of the plane and there were bits scattered around it.”

Olivia Irving said: “No smoke came from the plane as it was coming down. I didn’t expect it to crash because I thought it was part of a stunt.”

One woman, who lives in Shoreham, said: “There was a wisp of smoke and then there was blackness.”

Gail Souppouris, the chaplain of Shoreham Airport, said: “We opened the church especially for people to come in.

“Whether or not people are religious, this is a terrible thing.”

'It just plummeted to the ground'

Karen Grave, 41, from Lancing, was on the beach with her daughter Amie, 21, and friends.

She said: “We were sitting on the beach, more or less in front of where it happened.

“There were two little white planes which seemed to be practising a display. We’d noticed them beforehand, coming in over the sea.

“All of a sudden we heard an enormous splutter and we just said to each other, ‘That looks like it’s going down’.

“It didn’t come back up again, it just literally plummeted to the ground. The other plane carried on circling high up.

“Everybody on the beach ran up to where it happened. There was a massive group of people standing around feeling awful because we had seen it happen.

“It is really, really, horrible.

We actually feel quite tearful.”

'We found bits of propeller on the beach'

Fred and Polly Cole saw the tragedy unfold from their houseboat at Shoreham Beach.

Mr Cole, 65, said: “I saw the two planes and thought they were a bit close to each other.

“One of them clipped the other and went spiralling down.

“It lost its propeller and just went down. We have founds bits of the propeller on the beach.

“I ran over to the footbridge and saw it had crashed into Adur Rec. It just burst into flames as it hit the deck and a great ball of smoke and flames came up.”

Mrs Cole, 52, said: “Some of the debris came down over the beach.

“I don't think the pilot had much control but he was very brave if he managed to steer it away from the road and houses.”

Argus reporting team: Ruth Lumley, Tim Ridgway, Anna Roberts, Emily-Ann Elliott, Nigel Freedman and Rebecca Evans

Read our online breaking news report from Monday