C-150 crash - Nottingham area June 2014

[Phil Perry]

A light aircraft stalled and spun before crashing near the M1 killing the pilot and a passenger, a report has found.

 

Pilot John Gill, 70, and Alan Eaves, 76, died when the Cessna F150 plunged into a field near Junction 26 at Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, last June.

 

The Air Accident Investigation Branch said the aircraft stalled and spun, most likely due to an engine problem which "could not be determined" possibly resulting in the pilot becoming distracted and losing control of the aircraft”.

 

The probable primary cause was "a partial loss of engine power", the report found.

 

Mr Gill, from Belper, Derbyshire, and Mr Eaves, from Selston, Nottinghamshire, both held pilot licences.

 

They were members of the Merlin Flying Club at Hucknall from where they had taken off on the day of the crash on 14 June.

 

Several drivers on the M1, including one with a dashboard camera, provided eyewitness evidence of the aircraft's last moments to the investigators.

 

These showed the aircraft flew straight for about eight seconds after turning onto final approach to the runway before suddenly starting a left turn and then rolling sharply to the left and entering a "vertical rotating descent".