Pilot’s body found
What: two-seater Piper 38 en route from from Teesside to Durham Tees Valley Airport, near Darlington
Where: in sea off Robin Hood’s Bay near Whitby, North Sea, UK
When: Crash witnessed at 4.20 p.m. on Friday
Who: Pilot, a middle-aged man from the Ripon area, was the only fatality. He was a member of a Tees Valley flight school.
Why: Pilot sent out a Mayday distress call. Witnesses reported seeing the plane crash into the sea. A full scale search operation was in effect until the pilot’s body was found by divers at 11.45 am near rocks near the crash site and taken to Scarborough Hospital. The aircraft salvage operation is co-ordinated by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, the coastguard and the RNLI. The plane was dismantled to facilitate transportation.