Evening Times (Glasgow)
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Pilot fatigue, a heavy workload and a lack of recent flying practise may have contributed to a fatal air ambulance crash, an accident report said today.
The pilot, Captain Guy Henderson, 40, and paramedic John McCreanor, 34, were killed when their Glasgow-based Islander aircraft crashed in the sea in poor weather at night near Campbeltown airport.
The men were flying to the Mull of Kintyre town for the Scottish Ambulance Service to collect Craig McKillop, 10, and fly him to Glasgow for treatment.
Poor weather on the night of March 14, 2005, meant the pilot had to approach using instruments, the report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said.
Because there was no radar or air traffic control at the airport, the pilot was receiving information from a flight service information officer.
The pilot, from Broxburn, West Lothian, had indicated to the airport that he was commencing an approach.
The report went on: “Nothing more was seen or heard from the aircraft, and further attempts at radio contact were unsuccessful.”
A search was then mounted and the aircraft’s wreckage was later found on the seabed about eight miles from the airport.
The body of Mr McCreanor, from Paisley, was found shortly afterwards, but Mr Henderson’s body was not found until late December, 2005.
The AAIB report said the pilot allowed the aircraft to descend below the minimum altitude for the aircraft’s position on the approach.
It added that a combination of fatigue, workload and lack of recent flying practise probably contributed to the pilot’s reduced performance.
The pilot may have experienced . . . disorientation, distraction or a subtle incapacitation which may have played a part in the crash, the report said, adding that a second pilot “may have prevented the accident.”