Pilot seriously injured after light aircraft crash in North Berwick

A pilot was seriously injured when the microlight aircraft she was flying crashed into a fence at East Fortune Airfield in North Berwick.
A Pegasus Quik similar to the aircraft involved. Picture: Ian KirkA Pegasus Quik similar to the aircraft involved. Picture: Ian Kirk
A Pegasus Quik similar to the aircraft involved. Picture: Ian Kirk

The woman, 68, lost control of the Pegasus Quick aircraft when trying to land on July 31.

She had taken off alone that morning for a local flight, but soon realised the weather conditions were worse than expected.

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She was struggling to keep the flexwing aircraft level through turbulence, and decided to return to the airfield.

But during two attempts to land she could not get the Pegasus Quik into the right landing position because of the turbulence, and instead circled around.

At this point the pilot had become ‘very anxious’, as noted in the accident report, and her arms hurt with the effort it took to keep control of the craft.

The wind eased up, and she took the opportunity to move to a longer runway to give herself a better chance of landing.

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But after a stable approach to the runway the wind blew up again, the craft veered off course, and the pilot found she did not have the upper body strength to push the control bar into circling around again.

Instead she hit a fence, causing considerable damage to the craft and fracturing her wrist.

She said the cause of the accident was a combination of the turbulent conditions, which tested her physical strength, and a ‘classic case of fear and stress’.

There were no passengers in the flexwing, but there were other pilots at the airfield, who witnessed the accident.

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The fuselage pod, wheel spat and windshield of the craft were damaged.

The pilot said she may not fly on her own again after what happened, depending on her increasing her upper body strength and deciding to limit the weather levels at which she would consider it safe to fly.

She had several years of flying experience, with 312 flying hours logged, 267 of which on the same aircraft.

East Fortune is a former RAF airfield, briefly used as a temporary Edinburgh Airport in 1961.

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The RAF station is now home to the Scottish National Museum of Flight.

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