Pilot crashed into cloud covered trees

09/08/2012 @ 09:04

A report released today says that the light aircraft in which two pilots died on Long Mountain hit cloud covered trees.

Bob Jones, 60, who founded Mid Wales Airport at Welshpool, died on the mountain along with Steven Carr, 55, from Ruthin, Denbighshire, who was flying the Piper PA plane to re-familiarise himself with it.

The report says that an Air Accidents Investigation Branch report said the men might have thought they had cleared high ground.

The aircraft crashed on Long Mountain on the morning of 18 January, 2012.

Mr Carr, a former commercial airline pilot, and Mid Wales Airport manager Mr Jones, who was also a pilot, would have been aware of the proximity of the mountain, said the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report. But they "may have thought they had cleared the high ground", it added.

The report said it was unlikely the pilots would have deliberately entered the cloud, "but may have misjudged their height above it and inadvertently entered the top of the cloud, which was obscuring the trees".

Mr Jones built Mid Wales Airport on fields near his farm, developing it from a grass strip in 1990 to act as a base for businesses operating aircraft in the area. The airport has an annual air show which has now been named the Bob Jones Memorial Air Show.

Mr Carr had flown Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s and had not flown since November 1998.

An inquest is due to take place at Welshpool on October 24. Both pilots were married with children.