lasham gliding accident lasham gliding accident
The Super Cub had between 15-20 gallons of fuel on board. Please report any comments that break our rules. As a side note, the passenger was the eldest son of the British comedian Michael Bentine, who became interested in the regulations governing private airfields as a result of the crash. The accident site was 15 nautical miles south of the aerodrome and at an elevation of 475 feet above mean sea level with young beech and ash trees of 45-50 feet. Something went wrong, please try again later. Chief Executive Officer of the British Gliding Association Peter Stratten said:' Peter was a very experienced pilot and was both a professional commercial pilot and a recreational glider pilot. The only control was the verbal agreement from an official, with no paper trail. What is very likely is that the pilot got lost, but that can already gleaned from Sylvias blog here. Mist and fog covered the tops of the South Downs. One glider crashed on the airfield with two persons on board. Your email address will not be published. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. This would affect every aspect of the flight, from the decision to carry on just a few hundred feet above the ground to losing control once theyd flown over the power cables. Gun and knife seen during fight in Sandown, Officers attended the scene and found a man with facial injuries. Then it continued south down the valley, remaining under the low clouds. "PrI@f`X,mPG U 09:34 BST 22 Nov 2018 Its current captain is Antoine Aulnette. In mid-1943, the airfield was transferred to RAF Fighter Command. 84 Group Disbandment Centre (1945-?? Do yo know if any of your Ebook partners offer something like "print on demand"? Club chairman Manni Voigt said that their club was extremely popular with British pilots as it was one of the best long distance and soaring centres anywhere in the world. 2 Group RAF, part of the RAF Second Tactical Air Force. By the time that they were clear of the clouds, the Super Cub was diving through the tree tops, seconds from impact. 6060. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. 'It is a tragic loss that will be hard felt among the gliding community. The accident happened on April 26 last year and resulted in the death of 68-year-old Alan Purnell, an experienced glider pilot from Fleet. The accuracy was such that the incriminating records were burnt. He has flown gliders all over the world and competes in the British Nationals supported by wife of 31 years Ingrid who works as an exam invigilator in Surrey. That evening, around 20:30 local time, the pilots sister phoned the club to ask about his whereabouts. The power cables were not marked on the pilots chart. There were no signs of a crash. From the 1960s to 1980s, Lasham hosted a number of unusual aircraft notably one of only two surviving Avro Yorks (G-ANTK in Dan-Air colours) and was the resting home of aircraft from around the world which came to be scrapped, including most of the old Comet 4 fleet. B>CO?8`X`H2l53|js;:]r6:8ous%%3G&"#]ExKTeWl^3`y~kza,qqAtw9Zfzhp}Vb%hesmg!m|%g1gV]fQ:!|TmkA^4`/ES>^.yBy&wH Firefighters from Basingstoke, Alton, Alresford, Hartley Wintney, Tadley and Bordon spent more than two hours fighting the fire . It now owns all of the land within the fenced and gated area as well as the fields that form the undershoot area at each end of the main runway. There were no injuries sustained by anybody on the ground.". endstream endobj startxref They found nothing. As the police attempted to retrace the steps of the aircraft, they knew only that it had departed from the airport and flew south, keeping below the bad weather. The latest Air Accident Incident Report details a commercial airliner landing beside fully extended glider cables at a Hampshire airfield. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. In 1971, the Lasham Gliding Society had four light aircraft that they leased from Air Tows Limited. Lasham Gliding Society Registered address: Lasham Airfield, The Avenue, Alton, Hants, GU34 5SS, Registered in England. 114-115 West Street The heat muffler had deposits of lead and bromine on the heater mufflers exhaust, left behind by the high octane fuel fumes which had seeped through the cracks into the heater system. On 14 September 2006, a memorial at the entrance was dedicated to those who served at Lasham between 1942 and 1948. The lack of procedures for private flights from Lasham caused this final failure. A system that was good enough for short local area flights with gliders made it impossible to determine that the pilot and plane were overdue, in the first instance and then left search and rescue teams with no way to organise useful ground or aerial searches. An Aldershot police officer was asked to supervise the enquires and a general alert was broadcast to all stations. Farnham Luck ran out for this pilot and his friend. The pilot allowed the glider to get too low, too far from the airfield and attempted to stretch the glide back. I agree. Of course, places like London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt am Main, Amsterdam Schiphol, Madrid Barajas, John F Kennedy NY, etc, are all large airports. Squadrons equipped with Hawker Hurricanes, Hawker Typhoons and Supermarine Spitfires operated from Lasham. Yesterday at 12:47 PM. 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It operated at Odiham Airfield, but after two accidents, the Commandant of Sandhurst ordered it to suspend operations. At the 2005 Lasham Regional competition, then aged 82, he completed a triangular 'Diamond C' 505km (313.8-mile) flight, returning to Lasham with the task 'in the bag' after seven hours and 14 minutes in the air. Nearest towns include Basingstoke, Winchester, Guildford and there are great road and rails links close by. Observers at the launchpoint saw the glider approach the airfield at slow speed in a nose high attitude. It is under investigation. 84 Group Support Unit (? Travelling at 60-70 miles per hour (96-112 kmh), it impacted nose first, almost vertically. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. In the end, the US Army purchased around 700 of the L-18C with another 156 going to other nations for military use. Ukraine war: Russia strikes Ukrainian arms depot to thwart counter attack, Scottish chef who became Australian MasterChef judge dies aged 46, Air pollution exposure can damage the heart within hours, Don't kill the Coronation with trendiness. The crack in the heat exchange unit may have also played a role. The club also operates five tugs: and can call on several privately owned tugs in busy periods. A great place to learn to glide; with over 800 members and 20,000 glider flights each year. If you want to stay in the know with all the latest news, reviews and features from HampshireLive then you can sign up to our daily newsletter email. [4][14]. endstream endobj 33 0 obj <>stream One person was able to exit the glider however the second had to be freed by the emergency services at the scene. I won't send you spam. I'm excited and thanks for the discount. The railway runs south from Petersfield through the Buriton railway tunnel below high ground of about five hundred feet above mean sea level and then south through the valley, with hills reaching 650 feet above mean sea level. However, it still recommends that the British Gliding Association review its operational advice to pilots flying in "marginal conditions". We refer to an airport as a piece of real estate with one or more paved runways, usually taxiways, some infrastructure like a terminal building or a restaurant, generally open to the public and some form of control tower. We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. GU9 7HL Tel: 01252 725224 [emailprotected], I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from Farnham Herald. There was no trail of damage on the tree tops which might have attracted the attention of the aerial searchers. Then, later that afternoon, a different Super Cub departed for Blackbushe. A pilot has been killed after two gliders collided in mid-air above a Hampshire field. he said. Eye witnesses said he got into difficulties shortly after take-off and it is thought the glider stalled due to lack of speed and it went into a deadly spin heading earthwards. 'He was given a Life Membership in 2017 in recognition of his work for Lasham. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information. The airfield is now the home of the largest British gliding club, also one of the world's largest, Lasham Gliding Society Ltd (LGS), which bought the land in 1999 from the Ministry of Defence. The report says that when Mr Robertson - in a Skylark glider - saw Mr Purnell in his Ventus glider, his instinctive reaction was to start descending, but he was not sure whether he had been able to take any action before the collision. They were informed that a televised power boat race showed a yellow aircraft flying overhead, but when the footage was obtained from the BBC, it was not the missing Super Cub. Firefighters from both Basingstoke and Alton attended, Receive all the latest news directly to your inbox with our HampshireLive newsletter. Dan-Air ceased trading in 1992, and after a period of operation by FLS Aerospace, the facility was let by the society to aircraft maintenance company ATC Lasham Ltd. On 2 October 2015, the holding company of ATC Lasham went into administration and closed its Southend branch with immediate effect. He was able to confirm that the pilot had checked it out on Saturday but only now had they realised that hed not returned. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. A speedy response requires that search teams know as soon as possible that a crash may have occurred and at least an idea where the crash may have occurred. Both of them have taken time off work. A subsequent aerial search showed that the wreckage could not be seen from the sky and would not be visible until most of the leaves had fallen. [17] Six bmibaby 737s arrived in 2012 when the airline closed. %PDF-1.5 % One glider crashed on the airfield with two. London Air Traffic Control passed the details to ATC Centres at Preston and Redbrae, as well as the French Airways Supervisor in Paris. Written off (damaged beyond repair) when crashed after collision with K-8B Glider, at Lasham, Hampshire, 23/5/1970 'A well-known Lasham personality and expert professional and glider pilot, he was a key member of our Airspace Team bringing massive technical knowledge of how airliners and other commercial traffic use the airspace in and around us. The two occupants clearly died on impact, so a speedier response from search and rescue would not have otherwise made a difference. After the war, it became the home of the Army Gliding Club. Schempp-Hirth Discus glider, substantially damaged 1 September 2022 in an accident at Lasham Airport, Lasham, Alton, Hampshire: During the winch launch, the spoilers were not locked and extended. Flybe airline captain Peter got into difficulties as he tried to climb and is believed to have stalled the glider and gone into a deadly spin and was unable to pull up the nose before crashing. One of the pilots, who escaped unhurt after ejecting with a parachute, came down in woodlands near Lasham airfield in Alton, off the A339. Privacy Statement | Terms of Use On the 31st of October, two months after the flight had disappeared, a member of the public walking along a track through the forest saw the wreckage about 50 yards away. Another riveting write-up, thank you, Sylvia! For her to lose her husband in this way is just absolutely heart breaking. For a moment, it seemed that the pilot was flying a left-hand circuit to land. The visibility that day was variable, with a warm, moist and cloudy airstream covering the area. Unsubscribe at any time. He presumed that the reports were referring to one of these two aircraft. Emergency services attended the scene around 11.55am on Wednesday but were unable to save Mrs Draper. Im amazed that flight operations in England were so informal, even half a century ago; the US image of England tends to involve a lot of order, rather than daredevil flyers (at least outside the RAF). It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. One man was in a garden two miles west of Lasham when he saw a glider approximately one . By Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. Firefighters from both Basingstoke and Alton were called to the scene and crews from South Coast Ambulance Service (SCAS) and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance also attended. Police confirmed work was already underway involving the Air Accident Investigation Branch, based at Farnborough, to find out more details. It was impossible to prove when it had come off, but it didnt really matter. At some point on the following day, the Lasham Gliding Society contacted the Centre to correct the departure time from 14:00 to 11:30. [13] It has 93 student members. Copyright & Trade Mark Notice & 2013 - 2023, Contact Us Newspaper House On Tuesday, the 31st of August, the details of the missing flight was featured in local newspapers and broadcast on television. [16], The airfield occasionally provides storage for redundant aircraft. A comment on nomenclature. Powered aircraft at Lasham are rare, with an obvious exception of tugs for the gliders, and inbound flights need special permission unless there is a genuine emergency. Just purchased! The fire broke out early yesterday morning and has caused serious damage to the clubhouse. Find out how you can go gliding this summer with Lasham Gliding! Congratulations to Keith Fowler, sent solo today by Mark Davenport! Its most notable member was Frank Irving. He was also a qualified glider pilot. 2,144 were here. This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's People phoned in from all over the country to see that theyd seen the plane. Mrs Draper, an occupational therapist from Marlborough, Wiltshire, who specialised in helping patients with catastrophic injuries, had been piloting gliders for nearly 20 years and competed internationally as a hang glider pilot, winning the first British Women's Championships. Surrey England The Society manager officially reported the flight as overdue. Hampshire Constabulary ask public 'not to approach' Basingstoke man connected with 'serious assault', Travelodge jobs in Hampshire you can apply for now including receptionist and cleaner, Hampshire hour-by-hour bank holiday Monday weather as Met Office forecasts thunderstorms, There will be a mixture of sunshine, cloud and rain, Urgent appeal for missing Eastleigh 14-year-old girl with links to Basingstoke and Southampton. %%EOF Usually, the reports and analysis would be done in conjunction with the Rescue Co-ordination Centre but the police station had not dealt with such a situation before and worked through the incoming reports on their own. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. More than twenty firefighters from across north Hampshire have dealt with a serious fire at Lasham gliding club near Alton. A Hampshire police spokeswoman said: "Kay Draper died when the glider she was piloting came down in a field. At 12:12, an eye witness saw the Super Cub flying low over the tunnel and into the valley, following the line of the tracks. Get the latest news, entertainment, and top stories about Lasham from the BBC But on Monday he chose to fly alone with plans to glide for over five hours to celebrate his 60th birthday and was launched from the airfield next to the Gariep Dam after dawn. Kay Draper, who won the first British Women's Championships for hang-gliding before joining the talented British team, was flying solo on a trip from Lasham Airfield in Hampshire when her aircraft came down near Bradley, less than 10 miles away. If you feel this information is incomplete or incorrect, you can. As I was reading, I wondered: what distinguishes an airfield from an aerodrome from an airport? The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused. Initial RAF operations (from November that year) were by 38 Wing, Army Co-operation Command. Although, who am I to write that? The crash happened at approximately 7-30 pm and a call was made to the emergency services at 7-36 pm. Derek Piggott was Chief Flying Instructor at Lasham during much of the period from 1953 to 1989. The airfield was built on farmland in 1942, causing the A339 (Alton-Basingstoke road) to be diverted to the west from Lasham village. 'Peter joined Lasham in December 1983 and was our Chairman in 2014. I'm interested, but, "The four crew members were held in custody for two weeks as they were deemed a flight risk." Still, it seems odd for the pilot to have continued the flight in the first place. [8] There were approximately 59,000 aircraft movements (departures and landings) in that year (compared with Southampton Airport's 43,350). In the meantime, the Surrey Gliding Club and Imperial College Gliding Club were both seeking a new home because Redhill Aerodrome had many other users. The runway, or unpaved landing area itself is typically no more than 1000 metres long. Copyright Lasham Gliding Society 2021 Read our. These three terms seem not exactly synonymous, but appear to have considerable overlap in their meaning. Maps of the area before and after the airfield was constructed were displayed in the main corridor of the clubhouse of Lasham Gliding Society on the North side of the airfield to the South of Avenue Road. Is there a CO detector requirement for general aviation? It definitely came up during a phone conversation on the 3rd or 4th of September, but that was as a secondary detail, not the point of the phone call. 148 K-13 substantial 08/08/15, 15:00 lasham GS 55/40 none/none 407 Introductory flight ended in a field landing. A Gannett Company. Very interesting, well researched, thank you for another great blog post Cynthia. 'He has a passion for flying and was always telling us all about the places he'd flown to.'. They are now appealing for witnesses, Drivers warned over bank holiday mistake responsible for many crashes, The AA says not following advice can be 'catastrophic', The Hampshire criminals jailed in April including 'callous' killer who murdered Southampton grandmother, Other offences included arson and manslaughter, Subway worker attacked after confronting thief about stolen sandwich. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please The material he collected for this report formed the basis of his novel Lord of the Levels. 73 0 obj <>stream 'The accident is currently under investigation by the South African Civil Aviation Authority and the provincial police. Company registration no: IP15094R There was another witness who was standing on high ground over the railway tunnel and saw the Super Cub flying low over the trees. In 1950, the Army Gliding Club was re-established by Major Tony Deane-Drummond, then an instructor at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Prevailing south-westerly winds from the Atlantic Ocean. READ MORE: M3 vehicle fire closes two lanes near Basingstoke. The investigators say both pilots were entitled to be where they were in the air and would have been relying on the principle of "see-and-avoid". The report went to the the Basingstoke Police, the Department of Trade and Industry, London Air Traffic Control Centre and the Royal Air Force Rescue Co-ordination. 0 On the 28th of August in 1971, G-AYPN departed Lasham Gliding Society and disappeared. tU~4M0]m/?W:?I"]OUGeyOjiwUw,jhEm6ub1r$#Jo]A8Mkdg1&.|b-E3[8/w|inO%Wf}t1: AS2h^ HJ$R=1 BjGzGq4n<3%=$Y pR4"24PPB7:P@Q~G\? N|G'T`' :S3hD#F4ofPZwz02V@pt#@Xre|1f5HLI=c\:=r4dKkT>6Vw!ZX %'Us(]|"DJW^VTQvQi=d77k That evening, they were notified that the aircraft was officially overdue. A frosty and bitterly cold day at Lasham today didn't stop us from flying. However, when Piper L-18C aircraft moved from military service to the civil register, they once again were assigned the PA-19 designation. Flying with an ATC cadet as co-pilot in the National Gliding Championships, he established a British two-seater altitude record climbing to over 17,000 feet (5,200 m) in a thunderstorm over Sheffield. The following units were here at some point:[1]. Usually it supports commercial flight operations, It need not have a control zone, but anything less starts getting in the realm of aerodrome. Eventually he probably got vertigo, or maybe he became victim of fumes from a broken heater. In 1954 Dan-Air established a subsidiary, Dan-Air Engineering, at Lasham Airfield to service its own fleet and aircraft belonging to other operators. Lasham is Europes largest gliding club. VAT Reg No: 818 2876 00 Soon, he literally no longer knew which way was up. Highly experienced Peter was on his ninth day of pleasure flights during a gliding holiday with wife Ingrid when tragedy struck as he went up to fly alone. One clearing pass to see there were no cars on the road, taxi up into the parking lot of the Baptist Church and it was only a 2 block walk to grandmothers house. A war-surplus barrage balloon winch was used for launches. ]|h%CW/gm[TbwXMUz4O(ToH When the aircraft were not needed for towing, the pilots were encouraged to use them for private flights. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . However, the Society were not required to keep a record of tug movements and they did not do so. The Lasham Gliding Society was established in 1958; it is now the largest British gliding club in existence and one of the largest in the world. She was a member of the British Team that won the first Women's European and Women's World Championships. The Super Cub departed southbound and was seen passing north of Petersfield and over Burinton towards the Buriton railway tunnel, flying low and struggling with turbulence. 'Peter was married with two children and was an airline captain with Flybe. cgPMi:waY&muy&d;i Ox/~;% Its not clear where the new time came from; the Super Cub departed the airfield at 11:30. Between 1972 and 1974 Lasham airfield regularly hosted six Douglas DC3 Dakotas owned by Roger Byron-Collins' Macedonian Aviation based at Southend airport for care and maintenance and resprays under arrangements with Dan-Air. 'Just the day before he Peter was killed he took Ingrid up in a two seater glider and they had a marvellous flight. The Lasham Gliding Society manager phoned Basingstoke police and the duty officer at the Department of Trade and Industry to ask if there had been any reports of a forced landing or crash. Climatology Temperate Marine climate/Oceanic climate (Kppen climate classification Cfb). Its not clear when the police discovered that the actual departure time was actually two and a half hours earlier, at 11:30. All Rights Reserved. The pair took off heading west on runwway 27 at 11:30 local time. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information. We also have the use of a caravan for accommodation and cooking facilities, and a seperate workshop - all free of charge. [6] The airfield is in constant use throughout the year and regularly hosts national and regional gliding championships. Charlie Hogarth, 20, who lived next-door to the pilot all her life, said: 'He was a nice, considerate guy and very smart. The heater system controls were set to off but that wasnt necessarily meaningful; the levers had been struck on impact such that they would have been forced closed if open. Kay Draper, who won the first British Women's Championships for hang-gliding before joining the talented British team, was flying solo on a trip from Lasham Airfield in Hampshire when her. At the last minute, he saw the cables in his path and pitched up steeply while increasing the engine power. The third had an upgraded engine, a Continental C-90-12F, which set the ground work for the finished product. The Aviation Safety Network is an exclusive service provided by: Schempp-Hirth Discus glider, substantially damaged 1 September 2022 in an accident at Lasham Airport, Lasham, Alton, Hampshire: During the winch launch, the spoilers were not locked and extended. On Monday (September 20) a glider crashed with two people on board at Lasham Airfield near Alton. The Surrey club and Imperial College therefore moved to Lasham in August 1951. A FATAL mid-air crash between two gliders near Lasham, south of Basingstoke, has revealed the need for such aircraft to be more visible to one another, an . 'We have daily safety briefings and we stress all the time 'weather, weather, weather'. Inaya-Lei has links to Eastleigh, Basingstoke and Southampton. The aircraft, which was not equipped for instrument flying, went into cloud when taking action to avoid power cables while flying low in poor visibility and subsequently went out of control. But they were dismissed as having occurred before the aircraft had departed. They phoned Sandown aerodrome on the Isle of Wight. To BGA631, and named "Daisy". He was not rated for night flying or for instrument flight. Crash report calls for glider review. In the back seat was a non-pilot friend. Both gliders had taken off from Lasham airfield and their wreckage crashed into fields and a garden shed near the A339. www.lashamgliding.com / 01256384900 See more. It may have a paved runway, but does not usually support commercial flights. Firefighters from Basingstoke and Alton station were called to the airfield of local flying club in Alton at 15:59 on Monday 20th September 2021. The following morning, a club member reported to one of the Society officials that the Super Cub was not in the hanger. But where does an aerodrome become big enough to be called an airport? It later signed a long lease on the airfield from the Ministry of Defence. I was just lucky. (1) That consideration be given to a requirement for flying clubs or groups to maintain a log and adequate supervision of their powered aircrafts activities. He continued to investigate this in the context of smuggling operations using personal aircraft and wrote a report on the subject for the British police department known as Special Branch. Guy Reading, 28, and his sister Gemma, 26, are 'in a state of shock' after hearing the news of their father's tragic death, according to friends. Photos by Serena Lambre Lasham is one of the busiest unlicensed airfields in Europe with over 50,000 aircraft movements per annum and 250 based aircraft from General Aviation to Commercial Air Transport sized aircraft.. In the 1960s the Space Department of the Royal Aircraft Establishment with its HQ at Farnborough, sited a number of satellite tracking and receiving dish aerials on the south side of Lasham airfield, one enclosed in a large white dome. The police officer noted the information but it did not occur to anyone that the public sightings should be revisited to see if any had been dismissed based on timing.