WIX Archives

Paul Morgans Sea Fury

Posted by D Fisher on Thu Jan 10, 2002 02:39:07 PM

January 10, 2002 - Drainage Cuts In Runway 'May Have Contributed To Crash'

UNITED KINGDOM - Deep cuts made in a grass runway to improve drainage may
have contributed to a plane crash which killed a key member of David
Coulthard's motor racing team.

The Second World War Hawker Sea Fury aircraft overturned on landing at
Sywell
Aerodrome in Northamptonshire.

The plane tyres pushed down into the cuts and the ruts created increased
the
forces that led to the plane turning over on to its back, says an Air
Accidents Investigation Branch report.

Pilot, McLaren Mercedes engineer Paul Morgan, 52, was the co-founder of the
Ilmor Engineering firm which builds Mercedes' Formula 1 engines.

A day after the May 12 2001 accident, Coulthard won the Austrian Grand Prix
in a car powered by an engine designed by Ilmor.

The report says Mr Morgan was returning to Sywell after a 20-minute flight
when the accident happened. His aircraft touched down briefly, became
airborne again, and then went into a series of "long skips" before the tail
rose and the plane nosed over on to its back.

The AAIB says it is understood the Sywell runway has a long history of poor
drainage and a series of parallel cuts in the turf had been made to improve
drainage.

In addition, a series of transverse undulations on the runway appeared "to
have exacerbated the already present tendency for the aircraft to bounce",
says the report, which added that the plane's tyres had sunk to depths of
up
to 15 centimetres.

After his Austrian Grand Prix win, Coulthard said: "Paul was a really
extraordinary man and his death is a big, big loss to the team as he was
such
an important member of it."

Coulthard himself had a miraculous escape from a burning jet, which crashed
in France in May 2000, killing both pilots.




________________________________________________________

Follow Ups: