Pilot’s death was a tragic accident’

A MAN from Stebbing Green who was killed when the aircraft he was piloting crashed into a field close to a Jersey airport died as the result of a tragic accident, an inquest heard last week. Andrew Armstrong, 45, died from multiple injuries when the singl

A MAN from Stebbing Green who was killed when the aircraft he was piloting crashed into a field close to a Jersey airport died as the result of a tragic accident, an inquest heard last week.

Andrew Armstrong, 45, died from multiple injuries when the single engine Mooney M-20J aircraft crashed into a shallow valley near the airport's boundary and burst into flames on the morning of December 16, 2004.

An earlier inquest, held in St Helier, Jersey, recorded that the crash was the result of mechanical failure, and at a hearing at Chelmsford's County hall on Wednesday Essex Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray reached the same conclusion.

She said: "The finding of that inquest was that he died of multiple injuries when his light aircraft crashed shortly after take off into a gulley, 20 metres from the runway."

She said she had sat with the coroner in Jersey and reached the same conclusion.

The coroner also offered her condolences to Mr Armstrong's wife Jacqueline, who has previously described her late husband as a man who "loved a challenge and embraced change".

Mr Armstrong worked on the Channel Island as the head of the country's branch of investment bankers JP Morgan and left behind two sons.

He commuted to Jersey from his Essex home via plane and Mrs Armstrong, who did not attend the hearing, said his love of flying was second only to his family.

The earlier inquest heard evidence from a number of experts during a two-hour hearing.

They included three senior inspectors of air accidents from the UK Department of Transport's Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB).

The AAIB report said a defect was discovered within an engine part of the plane that affected the aircraft's ignition systems.