>I have the sad duty to report that during an air display at Old Warden, Pete
>Clarke, flying a Slingsby Firefly, crashed and was killed.
According to my information sources (who witnessed the accident) there is
some doubt as to the cause of the crash: talk of "a small error of
judgement" is somewhat premature: they report that he appeared to be having
control difficulties, and seemed to be making severe control inputs in an
attempt to break the spin. I would suggest waiting for the AAIB to report: I
have been involved in one fatal accident enquiry, and the preliminary
speculation bore no resemblance to the cause, eventually determined after
several months.
Pete will be very much missed, not only because of his work with Europa and
Slingsby, but because he was a pilot's display pilot: the Slingsby and
Europa demonstrations may not have been as spectacular as someone thrashing
a Sukhoi or Extra around the sky, but they were a model of smooth precision
that made you feel "I could do that" -even if you knew that was something of
a conceit. I aspire to fly like him, but probably never will.
Miles.
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