Pilot had 'no time' to avoid mid-air collision, inquest hears

An inquest has heard a pilot who died when his aircraft collided withanother over Bedfordshire in September last year had no time to avoidthe collision.

46-year-old Stephen Spavins commuted to his job as an undertaker inSandy from his home in Lincolnshire using a Denny Kitfox plane.

His aircraft collided with a Cessna being piloted by Graham Wallerfrom Whittlesford in Cambridgeshire who used the plane to fly to hisplace of work at Sywell Aerodrome in Northamptonshire.

He'd taken off from Fowlmere near Duxford at about 7.20am and was flying over Little Barford near St Neots when he saw the Kitfox out of the corner of his eye.

Mr Waller said he banked sharply up and left instinctively.

Despite his actions he said he felt a scrape and a soft impact whichsent the Cessna into a nosedive. He said his elevator flaps had beendisabled in the collision and he feared the plane would crash.

Only by use of full throttle did he manage to bring it out of the nosedive andland safely at a disused airfield at Thurleigh.

Mr Spavins' Kitfox sustained damage to its wing and the inquest heardit would not have been able to stay airborne after that.

It crashed to the ground at Little Barford between the A1 and the mainEast Coast railway line.

Mr Spavins, an undertaker, died instantly from multiple injuries. It'sbelieved he was trying to regain control of the aircraft when it hitthe ground.

Investigators from the AAIB told the inquest no safety equipment couldhave prevented the death of Mr Spavins once the collision hadoccurred.

They said both planes had been flying at 2000 to 3000 feet with generallygood visibility and that both were in good mechanical condition, butthat all aircraft have blind spots and it would have been likely thatthe pilots hadn't seen each other in sufficient time to takesufficient evasive action.

At Ampthill Coroners Court Senior Coroner for Luton and BedfordshireTom Osborne said Mr Spavins died as a result of multiple injuriessustained during the collision and that he could reach no otherconclusion than to say that his death had been the result of anaccident.

Click below to watch Russell Hookey's report