Light aircraft crashed after pilot mixed up left and right hands, investigation finds

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

A light aircraft crashed after a pilot confused his left and right hands, an investigation has found.
The plane was trying to land when it struck trees and crashed on a congested road of cars outside Aston Down airfield in Gloucestershire last August.
Both men on the Grob 109B motorglider aircraft were injured with the passenger suffering significant spinal injuries that left him in hospital for several days.
The aircraft owner Christopher Tooze, 70, was flying with someone who had a 'significant profile within the gliding world' and was a friend of a prospective buyer of the plane.
Mr Tooze had allowed him to take the controls to give him an experience flight.
It was 'inappropriate control inputs' by the passenger that caused the crash, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has said.
Before take-off, he had told Mr Tooze: 'I am not a power pilot'.
The AAIB said in their findings: 'The passenger was in the right seat, so for this phase of flight had his right hand on the control column and his left hand on the engine controls,' said the AAIB.
The plane was trying to land when it struck trees and crashed on a congested road of cars outside Aston Down airfield in Gloucestershire last August.
'The passenger stated that he had no intention of trying to land the aircraft. However, he continued to fly through the turn onto final approach with his right hand on the control column.
'The intent was to make an approach in gliding mode, with engine at idle power and the rate of descent controlled by the airbrakes.
'After the final turn he swapped his left hand to the control column and operated the airbrakes with his right hand. The approach was made at an airspeed of 60-70 kt.'
The committee explained the passenger was sat in the right back seat and should have had his left hand on the control column and right hand on the airbrake.
But most are operated with the airbrake in the pilot's left hand and the control column in the right hand.
It comes after a pilot inadvertently caused a British Airways plane to catch fire after mixing up his left and right hands during take off.
The Boeing 777 jet had been about to take off from Gatwick to Vancouver in June last year, when the co-pilot mistook his right hand for his left and pulled back on the lever operating the aircraft's thrust.
This caused the brakes to catch fire and led to a rejected take-off, meaning the pilot was forced to perform a 'high-speed emergency stop' on the runway after reaching speeds of more than 190mph.
There was no evidence of a technical problem in the Grob.