Flight school aircraft linked to five serious incidents since 2019
An investigation found that aircraft owned by Leading Edge Flight Training had been involved in at least five serious incidents investigated by the Air Accident Investigation Branch since 2019. The revelations follow a crash near Drymen, Scotland, that killed 16-year-old student pilot Ryan Sprott and his 80-year-old instructor, Ian Haggis, prompting questions about the school’s safety record.
The incidents included aircraft overturning after landing short, veering off a runway, an engine fire, a flight taking off with its towbar attached, and a plane’s wrong-way manoeuvre that forced a British Airways jet to abort its landing. The Piper Tomahawk involved in the fatal crash had been in maintenance from 28 September until the day it crashed on 16 October. Police and the AAIB are investigating; the article also reports that former staff raised concerns about aircraft condition.
In short
- Five incidents involving the school’s aircraft were investigated since 2019.
- The fatal crash killed a student and his instructor.
- The crash plane had recently been in maintenance.
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The case for
The reported pattern of serious incidents and former staff concerns gives regulators and the public a reasonable basis to scrutinise the school’s maintenance, safety procedures and oversight. A fatal crash involving an aircraft recently returned from maintenance makes clear answers especially important for families, students and the wider flying community.
The case against
Several different aircraft and types of incident over a number of years do not, by themselves, establish that the school had a systemic safety problem or that any reported concern caused the fatal crash. The crash remains under investigation, and a fair assessment should distinguish confirmed findings from allegations and wait for evidence about the aircraft, maintenance work and each incident.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Watchdogs have probed FIVE ‘incidents’ involving planes at fatal crash flying school”.