Instructor and pupil disagree on microlight crash

A Pegasus Quik microlight came off the runway at Northrepps Airfield in September

A flying instructor and his student could not agree on the cause of a microlight crash during take-off.

An Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report into the crash at Northrepps Airfield, Norfolk, in September proved inconclusive.

The instructor, 65, suffered a broken wrist after the Pegasus Quik left the runway and overturned.

He believed that his student “had inadvertently applied the brake pedal”, while the student said that his feet were “clear of the brake pedal”.

The report said the grass runway was wet but there was “little wind” on 30 September 2023.

The student pilot was undertaking his sixth hour of training with his instructor, who had more than 2,000 hours of flying experience.

The flying instructor suffered a broken wrist after the aircraft toppled over during take-off

They completed “separate pre-flight checks of the aircraft” before taxiing to the runway where the student checked the brakes.

The trike “had initially tracked straight along the runway” but began to turn to the right as the microlight reached approximately 45 mph.

Both student and instructor attempted to correct the “deviation” using the steering bar, but were unable to prevent the aircraft from skidding on the wet grass and toppling over.

The report said the student made the aircraft safe before helping the instructor.

The instructor believed the student "inadvertently applied the brake pedal" at some point during the take-off, which countered the pressure he was applying with his right foot on the throttle.

However, the student believed his foot was clear of the brake pedal.

The AAIB said: “In the absence of any further information, it was not possible to reconcile the differences between these two accounts.”

It was therefore not possible to identify “the cause of the runway excursion”.