Waddesdon fatal air crash accidental, coroner rules

From left: Jaspal Singh Bahra, Saavan Singh Mundae, Mike Green and Nguyen Thanh Trung

A crash between a helicopter and a light aircraft that killed four people was an accident, a coroner has ruled.

The collision happened above Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire at about 12:15 GMT on 17 November 2017.

Jaspal Bahra, 27, Saavan Mundae, 18, Mike Green, 74, and Nguyen Thanh Trung, 32, all died.

An Air Accidents Investigation Branch report said the aircraft were in each other's blind spots, the inquest at Beaconsfield Coroner's Court was told.

The wreckage of both aircraft was found in Wilderness Wood near Waddesdon Manor

The Cessna light aircraft and the helicopter took off from Wycombe Park Airfield about half an hour before the crash.

Capt Green, of Long Lane, Newbury, was in the helicopter giving a lesson to Vietnamese military officer Capt Trung.

The inquest was told Mr Bahra, a flight instructor from Wembley, was giving a lesson to Mr Mundae, a student from Richmond, in the Cessna 152.

Pauline Sturgeon was with a walking group when the crash happened, which she initially thought was "just aerobatics".

In a statement read to the inquest, she said: "They dropped together and dropped out of my sight. I stood there gobsmacked. It was all unreal."

Post-mortem examinations found the men died from multiple injuries.