NewsBreakingOnline

Light aircraft crashes in recreation ground killing pilot, 63, after clipping wings with another plane in West Sussex A pilot has died after his light aircraft collided in mid-air with another plane, plummeted into a recreation ground and burst into flames. The 63-year-old from the Adur area in West Sussex is thought to have tried to avoid houses and aim for an open space as his plane came down. The pilot was declared dead at the scene, police said. The second aircraft, a Diamond DA40, landed safely and the two people on board escaped shaken but unhurt from the crash close to Shoreham airport near Brighton. Witnesses spoke of the two aircraft clipping wings before one hurtled into Adur recreation ground, exploding on impact. None of the people in the recreation ground was hurt, which one onlooker described as a “miracle”. “I saw the tail fin of one of the aircraft floating down,” said Rob Piatt, who heard a bang while sitting in a nearby pub garden and turned to see the two planes parting in mid-air. “The poor pilot was weaving all over the place. Then the aircraft went out of sight and we were just waiting to hear the explosion. “There was no way he could have got out of it. He was going down at such a steep angle and pretty quickly. He did very well to get it to the recreation ground and not crash in the airfield itself. “It was very near a kids’ playground and it is an area that is popular with dog walkers.” Another witness, Nic Small, described watching the stricken plane fall from the sky. “A part of one of the planes, a flap or wing or tailplane, was separated and was rotating and coming to the ground,” he said. “I then realised that one of the planes was totally out of control and I watched it nosedive into the recreation ground about 200 metres away. “The other aircraft I saw flying away. It was very obvious that no one was going to make it out of the plane that crashed. “There was no opportunity for anyone to bale out and parachute. It all happened very, very quickly in about 10 to 20 seconds.” Emergency services were called to the scene just before 4.30pm and police and Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) teams scoured the area for wreckage. Superintendent Neil Honnor from Sussex police said: “This is a very tragic incident. It would appear that the dead pilot tried to avoid local houses and managed to crash into the open recreation ground. “Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.” One of the planes involved in the collision belonged to Flying Time Aviation, which provides training for pilots and is based at Shoreham airport. In a statement, the company said: “We can confirm there has been an incident concerning one of our aircraft. “We are uncertain of the details at the present time and the incident is currently under investigation by the AAIB and Sussex police. “We have been training pilots since April 2006. We have never before had a serious incident during the history of our flight training organisation and safety is, and always has been, our main priority. “Both of the pilots operating our aircraft were uninjured during the incident.” Plane crashes Air transport guardian.co.uk