Dunkerswell crash: pilots unaware of each other

One plane landed on top of another

A collision involving two light aircraft, one of which landed on top of the other at Dunkerwell airfield was caused because neither pilot were aware that other was there and they hadn't been alerted by radio transmissions until it was too late.

The pilot of one of the planes suffered serious injuries.

An investigation by the Air Accident Investigation Board has led to the Civil Aviation Authority issuing a new guideline to improve the awareness of pilots operating at aerodromes providing an air to ground communications.

The AAIB's report explains how on 20 August 2021 a 1952 Cessna, coming to Devon from Bodmin, and a Stearman plane built in 1942, taking off from Dunkerswell, came to collide at the East Devon airfield. Each aircraft had only a pilot on board.

The Cessna had just landed when the older Stearman plane came down on top of it. People in the area reported that they thought the pair were flying in formation, which wasn't the case. 

When he hit the Cessa the Sterman pilot "believed that the left landing gear had failed. Once the aircraft stopped, he looked down and saw that his aircraft was straddled on top of another aircraft, the Cessna."

As part of its conclusion, the AAIB says: "The geometry of [he Stearman pilot's] turn and the flightpath of the Cessna beneath him, made it unlikely that the pilot would have visually acquired the Cessna if he was not primed with the knowledge of its presence by radio. Neither would he have been expecting an aircraft to join the circuit from the dead side."

A communications operator at the airport was unable to provide full attention to helping with the landings because they had other admin duties. The AAIB wants that to change in future.