Fatal Accident: Vintage Yak in Essex

29 Apr 11 3 Comments

A vintage aerobatic plane, apparently a Yak 52, crashed into a fishing lake in Essex (the village of Langford) yesterday. The plane was seen flying in formation with two other aerobatic planes shortly before the accident. All three took off from North Weald airfield, of which I am a member, although the downed plane was apparently not from there. The lead aircraft called in a mayday and a fisherman at the lake contacted emergency services.

The pilot and passenger were found in the wreckage when it was pulled from the bottom of the lake some hours later.

From the incident report:
Incident No: 7930

Reports from the scene confirm that the aircraft has nose dived into the lake. Its tail end is approximately 10 feet underwater with the nose of the plane pointing down.

Assistant Divisional Officer Dave Barritt said: “Fire crews have been working with colleagues from Essex Police to help try and establish what has happened here.

“A crash investigation will be carried out but we have found some debris at the side of the lake and the plane is completely submerged so it appears that the aircraft clipped the trees before ditching into the lake.”

The details of the plane and the identities of the pilot and passenger have not yet been released. The AAIB is investigating.

3 Comments

  • Just before this happened, there was some sort of small red/white fighter jet (looked a bit like a Hunter profile), exercising and whizzing about in the Danbury/Maldon vicinity at 2-3k feet. Possible jet-wash issue?

  • Spotter,
    You are just the sort of prat who gives all “spotters” a bad name.
    2-3 feet,what an idiot you are.
    g

  • The k after 3k means thousand, so ‘spotter was saying 2 – 3 thousand feet.

    So that rather makes you a bit of a ‘Gary’ then, doesn’t it, and a gobby one at that – idiot! We all love an idiot scoring a sweet own-goal!

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