Pilot made 'unsafe' decision to fly in bad weather before Vauxhall helicopter crash

Crash death: Pilot Peter Barnes, 50
Robin de Peyer11 December 2015

A helicopter pilot who was killed in a central London crash made the "unsafe and inappropriate" decision to divert in bad weather partly due to commercial pressure involving a significant client, a jury has found.

Peter Barnes, 50, died when his helicopter clipped a crane at The Tower, St George Wharf, Vauxhall, in January 2013.

Pedestrian Matthew Wood, 39, from Sutton, Surrey, was also killed as he walked to work. Twelve other people on the ground were also injured.

The jury today delivered its conclusions that both deaths were accidental at the Southwark Coroners Court before coroner, Dr Andrew Harris.

A pilot of 24 years, Mr Barnes was working for the helicopter company RotorMotion.

He planned to fly from Redhill Aerodrome in Surrey to Elstree in Hertfordshire, but was diverted to Battersea heliport. Mr Barnes was in contact via text messages with Richard Caring, the owner of the exclusive Ivy restaurant franchise.

During the three-week inquest, Mr Caring testified that he did not put "one iota" of pressure on the pilot to pick him up so he could go to a shoot with the Queen's cousin.

He told the jury he had done everything other than steal Mr Barnes' keys to persuade him not to fly, saying: "I didn't pull his strings."

But jurors today concluded Mr Barnes was likely to have felt under pressure.

Scenes of debris after the helicopter crash in Vauxhall
Getty

In their record of inquest, they wrote: "The 7:55am text message he received from a client prompted his decision to divert, and was likely to have been read as the landing preference of a significant client, regardless of intention."

The jurors added: "The general commercial pressure within a small company to keep such a client happy may have been exacerbated by that client's disagreement with another pilot there a fortnight earlier and an investigation into a third pilot."

The jury said Mr Barnes' decision to take off from Redhill was inappropriate: "He could not have reasonably expected to have completed his planned flight, while maintaining adequate visibility."

The decision to divert to Battersea was "neither safe nor appropriate" because it placed him in "excessively challenging weather conditions", the jury concluded.

Clouds and poor visibility were factors in the collision with the crane and the jurors also agreed with the evidence of Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) inspector Geraint Herbert, who believed Mr Barnes suffered a "loss of situational awareness".

Earlier in the inquest Shaun Tinkler-Rose, a pilot colleague at the East Midlands air ambulance, said Mr Barnes told him on the morning he died that he felt under "extreme pressure" from both his employer, RotorMotion, and the client, to do that day's job.

He told the jury he thought Mr Barnes may have flown to "prove a point" and "give it a go", adding: "The overall gist I got from the conversation was that he didn't really want to fly."

Helicopter crash: flames engulf the road at the scene of the crash (Picture: Twitter)

Mr Wood died of severe burns and a leg injury, the jury concluded. He was struck by falling debris from the helicopter as it began to break up before 500 kg of jet fuel ignited.

Jurors agreed witness accounts and photographic evidence suggested Mr Barnes did not maintain adequate visibility either with the ground or obstacles. Such conditions should have prompted him to rethink his diversion, they added.

Mr Barnes may have also been switching his radio frequency at the time, but given he was "a highly experienced pilot" he was unlikely to have become distracted by communication, ahead of aviation and navigation, jurors said.

Dr Harris reiterated his condolences to the relatives of Mr Barnes and Mr Wood, some of whom were present in court.

He said nothing would reverse the "tragic, sudden and completely unexpected" loss of their loved ones, but he hoped the inquest's consideration of how to prevent future deaths would mean some good could come of the incident.

Dr Harris retired to consider his response to the matters.

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