A plane crashed close to a Nottinghamshire airport after the aircraft's engine gave out mid-flight. A passenger suffered minor injuries after the twin-engine prop plane crashed upside down in a field four miles from Retford Gamston Airport.
The pilot came away unscathed while the plane, a Reims Cessna FRA150M, also suffered "significant damage". According to an Air Accidents Investigation Branch report, the number three cylinder and piston "broke free from the engine" causing it to fail during a training flight on August 1, 2021.
On the return leg from Humber Bridge, near Hull, the plane's engine began "running rough" around five nautical miles (5.75 miles) from the airport. The 2023 report showed the pilot carried out a carburettor heat check and noticed that part of the engine was "protruding outwards" and shortly afterwards, "control of engine power was lost" and the engine "stopped", Lincolnshire Live reports.
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A mayday call was transmitted on Gamston's radio frequency and the pilot made a forced landing in a field, though the aircraft "could not be stopped before it hit a hedge on the edge of a field". The pilot and passenger were able to climb out of the upside-down plane "without assistance," though the passenger had suffered a minor leg injury.
Analysis showed that there had been a mismatch of 'tensile strength' between the nuts and studs used on the engine. According to the report, the 21-year-old commander of the plane held a commercial pilot's licence and had 534 hours of flying experience under their belt.
In the 90 days before the accident, they had spent 223 hours flying - the equivalent of nine whole days.
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