Pilot and student deaths in plane crash ruled as accidents by jury

THE death of a pilot who was killed in a plane crash along with a student near Henley was an accident, a jury has concluded.

Emily Collett, 35, was flying with Thomas Castle, 30, when their biplane crashed near the B480, between Stonor and Middle Assendon, at about 2pm on August 24, 2019.

They had taken off in the single-engine Pitts S-2A from an airfield in Berkshire 10 minutes before the crash.

An eyewitness described seeing the aircraft “nosedive out of the sky”.

A jury inquest, which took place last week at Oxford Coroner’s Court, heard that Mrs Collett had had coronary heart disease and may have suffered a heart attack before the plane crashed.

But senior coroner Darren Salter said there was insufficient evidence to conclude that beyond reasonable doubt. On Monday last week, a cardiac pathologist told the court an examination of Mrs Collett's heart showed one of her arteries was narrowed by between 80 and 90 per cent.

Prof Simon Kim Suvarna, a cardiac pathologist, said it was “certainly conceivable” that this condition could have led to a heart attack.

But he said that this or Mrs Collett becoming incapacitated before the plane crashed could not be proved definitively.    

Prof Suvarna added that there would have been “no warning symptoms” for Mrs Collett to have known about or noticed.

Air accident investigators said on Tuesday that Mrs Collett may have been incapacitated and that Mr Castle may have failed to react within the 17 to 35 seconds he may have had to move the plane to safety.

They said this could have been because of a lack of communication or him being temporarily startled or disorientated.

Last year, a report by the Air Accident Investigation Branch concluded that Mrs Collett may have fallen ill at the controls during an aerial manoeuvre.

It said Mr Castle, who was sitting behind her, was experienced enough to have recovered the stricken aircraft but may not have realised something was amiss in time or may have become confused or panicked.

Mrs Collett had taught Carol Vorderman to fly the loop-the-loop on The One Show in 2017.  After the crash, the presenter  said: “Emily was an extraordinary young woman and pilot and my time with her in the air was nothing but a joy.”

Mrs Collett started flying in 2001 and had competed for more than a decade, winning the sports class national championships in 2007.