Pilot, 82, died of heart attack after plane crash

An 82-year-old pilot died of a heart attack after a plane crash which investigators believe may have been caused by a mechanical failure.

The green and white Taylor Monoplane G-AYSH crashed at Nayland Airfield, off Campions Hill, on the Suffolk-Essex border, at 09:36 BST on 17 June.

Emergency services, including Suffolk Police, were called to the site about two hours later, before reporting that the pilot, who was the only person on board, had died.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said the monoplane's main landing gear shock absorber had seized upon touching down.

"This may have contributed to the aircraft veering to the left during landing," said the report, which was published earlier.

The pilot, who had 1,522 hours of flying experience, had taken off from Retreat Farm, in Little Baddow near Chelmsford in Essex at 09:22.

But he started to descend not long after take-off.

Little more than 10 minutes into his flight, he touched down before the runway mid-point at Nayland Airfield - just over the county border in Suffolk - before the plane veered to the left and ended up in the long grass.

The pilot was found unresponsive inside the plane, which had a broken canopy and damage to its propeller, by a club pilot.

"The pilot sustained a fatal heart attack, which the investigation concluded likely occurred after the landing," the AAIB said.

The wreckage was taken away on a flat-bed lorry for further inspection.

In the report, the AAIB said that an examination of the plane's right main landing gear shock absorber found its cylinder housing and cylinder was bent.

This, it said, had likely been caused by a "historic event" and that the issue had led to "reduced ability" for the cylinder to work properly, "resulting in an imbalance" between the plane's landing gear assemblies.

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