Jury points to ’copter
disaster pilot’s lack
of training

Paul Spencer, 43, and his wife Linda, 59, who was the only passenger, were killed when the aircraft crashed at Rudding Park Hotel, near Harrogate in North Yorkshire, in January 2008. Serious flaws later emerged in Mr Spencer’s training which was not sufficient to grant him a licence, a four-day inquest heard.

Mr Spencer had picked up his new Gazelle aircraft from Essex on the day he died and had flown back to the park, North Yorkshire Coroner Rob Turnbull said.

The entrepreneur, who had held his helicopter licence for just six weeks, took Mrs Spencer on a flight over nearby Knaresborough but lost control as they returned to the resort. The couple, who lived in a converted barn above Brighouse in West Yorkshire, died when the aircraft crashed in woodland about 800 yards from a heli-pad shortly before dusk on January 26 last year.

They ran a hugely successful wholesale company, Country Baskets, which continues to operate, selling artificial flowers and decorations nationally from its headquarters in Leeds. They were regular visitors to Rudding Park, where they owned a lodge, and had returned from a Caribbean holiday shortly before the 
crash.

Witnesses told the inquest at the Cedar Court Hotel in Harrogate how they watched the low-flying helicopter pitch and tilt on to its end before plunging below the treeline. A post-mortem examination revealed Mr and Mrs Spencer died from multiple injuries.

The inquest heard how there were high gusts of wind on the afternoon of the crash. Air accident investigators later highlighted “several areas of concern”, Mr Turnbull told the jury.

The fact Mr Spencer got his licence after just 10 days of training was “not impossible” but “highly unusual”, according to investigators.

At the beginning of the inquest, Mr Turnbull said: “The conclusion of the experts in this case is that the cause of the crash is adverse weather conditions and the fact that the pilot had not received sufficient training to qualify for his licence.”

The Civil Aviation Authority found that “the majority of flights” recorded as proof of training “did not occur”, the jury heard.

The jury yesterday returned narrative verdicts. They acknowledged that Mr Spencer was an “unqualified and inexperienced helicopter pilot” who died along with his wife in the crash in “adverse weather conditions”.

Earlier this year, flying instructor Ian King, 53, was jailed for six months for lying to get Mr Spencer a pilot’s licence. The former Army captain falsely signed off the businessman’s incomplete training records weeks before the tragedy.

While it was impossible to say whether King’s actions caused the crash, he showed “complete and utter disregard” for the rules and deliberately deceived authorities, a judge at Leeds Crown Court said in February. King, of Clifford, near Wetherby, denied making a false representation with intent to deceive the Civil Aviation Authority but was found guilty by a jury after a week-long trial.

Following yesterday’s inquest, members of Mr and Mrs Spencer’s family said they did not wish to comment.

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