One dead in Shoreham plane collision

A 63-year-old man has died after a collision between two light aircrafts above Shoreham Airport.

Shortly before 4.30pm emergency services were called to reports of a collision which led to one aircraft crashing into Adur Recreation Ground.

A police cordon was set up around the recreation ground and at Beach Green as emergency services tackled a blaze and searched the area with the wreckage falling over a wide area.

A few hours later it was confirmed a 63-year-old pilot from the Adur region died at the scene.

The second aircraft, a Diamond DA40, is believed to have landed safely and no injuries were reported on the ground, although there were a number of people in the recreational ground at the time of the incident.

Superintendent Neil Honnor, from Sussex Police, said: “This is a very tragic incident. It would appear that the dead pilot tried to avoid local houses and managed to crash into the open recreation ground. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.”

The A259 Brighton Road was closed after the incident and huge delays were reported in and around Shoreham.

It has been suggested that the planes collided as they both came in to land at the same time.

More news to follow

The planes were due to land at Shoreham Airport

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Posted by Joseph Lewis on July 4, 2011. Filed under Featured,Shoreham. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry