Police name East Midlands air crash victims
18.12.07
Two men who were killed in a collision involving two light aircraft near East Midlands Airport yesterday have been named. Peter Leigh, 60, of the Green, Clayton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, was the pilot of a Luscombe Silvaire which crashed to the ground near Blithfield Reservoir. His passenger in the two-seater plane David Arthur Sims, 67, of Melton, Stoke-on-Trent, also died on Sunday.
Mr Leigh and Mr Sims shared a common interest in flying, police said, and had taken off from a farm in Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire, but it is not known where they were heading. The other pilot involved in the collision guided his plane about 25 miles to East Midlands Airport where it made an emergency landing, closing the runway for around 3 hours.
The planes were on private leisure flights and neither was being directed by air traffic control. A police sergeant, Rupert Johnston, was flying with his 10-year-old son James and pilot Mike Carruthers in the plane that landed at East Midlands, a Pacific Aerospace 750 XL. They all escaped serious injury.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is leading the crash examinations. Tim Atkinson, of the AAIB, said it was too early to say exactly what had caused the collision. Weather conditions were clear and visibility was fine.
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg it | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
To book east midlands airport hotels or east midlands airport parking at the lowest price, click on these links to two great east midlands airport parking and east midlands airport hotels price comparison pages.
