Piper PA-28R-200 Cherokee Arrow II, G-BKFZ, 13 February 2008
Piper PA-28R-200 Cherokee Arrow II, G-BKFZ
Summary:
The aircraft had departed from Spanhoe Airfield to return to its home base, Shacklewell Lodge, 6 nm to the north-east of Spanhoe. The sky was clear after takeoff but there was an area of very low cloud with mist and fog moving in from the east. The aircraft climbed to 1,200 ft above a cloud layer and the pilot contacted RAF Cottesmore to request their cloudbase. The Cottesmore controller reported that the last observation was ‘sky clear’ with a visibility of 5,000 m in haze. The pilot acknowledged this information but made no further transmissions. The aircraft crashed in a park on the north-eastern edge of Rutland Water, where it had struck a pair of trees at a speed in excess of 110 kt, whilst in an approximate 20° bank to the left. Witnesses to the accident described the weather at the time as foggy. The reason for the aircraft’s descent into foggy conditions could not be clearly established.
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