Kent Plane Crash Claims Top Motorsport Name

A pilot who managed to avoid children playing in a nearby field as his aircraft came down has been hailed a hero and named as Mike Roberts, a director of Flight Consultancy Services based at Biggin Hill.

The crash claimed four other victims, amongst them was former British Touring Championship driver David Leslie and Apex motorsport boss Richard Lloyd.  The two others victims are still to be named.

According to eye witness reports the Cessna Citation flew very close to housing estates rooftops before crashing into the last house in a row and exploding into a fireball. It is amazing that despite the ferocity of the crash nobody on the ground was injured or killed. Eyewitnesses have spoken of seeing the passengers in the aircraft panicking as it came down and one claimed to have seen the pilot frantically waving at them to get out of the way.

Cockpit voice recordings have revealed that the pilot reported severe engine vibrations before exclaiming that they were "coming down" and then the radio went dead, one pilot who had heard the cockpit voice recording also explained that he had head emergency alarms going off in the cockpit as the pilot made his mayday call. Police have said that all families affected have been moved into temporary accommodation as it will take some time to recover the bodies and clear up the considerable damage that the crash has caused. The couple who owned the house demolished by the jet were on holiday at the time and escaped almost certain death.

Tributes have been pouring in for the visctims with former F1 driver David Brabham saying, "David was a great guy. He was a very good driver and a distinguished gentleman. It is the saddest news, both for his family and for the racing community." Former World Champion Damon Hill also paid respect to both men whom he knew personally and described them as "lovely guys." Damon Hill also lost his father Graham Hill in a light aircraft crash when he was 15. The deaths come only six months after rally driver Colin McRae was killed in a helicopter crash along with his young son and two other passengers.

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Published by: Jon Vickery