Crash pilot mistook road for runway
11.02.07
A pilot who took off from Coventry Airport landed on a road after mistaking it for a runway - and only noticed his error when he hit a speed bump. The 68-year-old pilot, believed to be from the Coventry area, thought he had found the Herefordshire landing strip despite noticing 'a kerb to the side and lamp posts to his left', a report into the accident said.
The pilot, who has not been named, was an experienced private pilot who had clocked up more than 1,000 hours in the air over the years. However, he had flown for just four hours in the three months prior to the accident near Leominster on August 24 last year, and had only landed at the Shobdon Aerodrome - the site of the mishap - three times before.
The accident happened during a solo flight from Coventry Airport, the monthly bulletin from the Air Accidents Investigations Branch reports. It states: 'When close to touchdown, the pilot noticed that the airfield was different from what he remembered. Shortly after touching down, the aircraft ran over a speed bump which caused it to veer left and leave the road.'
The plane's left wing hit a tree and its right was almost entirely sheared off after hitting a lamppost. Bewildered, the pilot managed to escape from the wreck unscathed. Fortunately the road was free of traffic as it had only just been built.
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