Rally Champ McRae Flew Helicopter Too Fast

Former rally world champion Colin McRae MBE crashed his helicopter because he was flying too low and too fast in the wrong place, a Fatal Accident Inquiry has found.

The inquiry found 39-year-old McRae had undertaken the flight that killed him and three others without a valid pilot's licence.

Mr. McRae crashed his helicopter on September 15, 2007, in a wooded area, Mouse Valley, near to his home in Lanark.

He died along with his son Johnny, aged five, and two family friends: six-year-old Ben Porcelli and Graeme Duncan, who was 37.

The FAI found McRae lost control of his helicopter after entering Mouse Valley when there were no "operational or logistical reasons" to do so.

The helicopter deviated from its path due to "an unkown occurrence" before it collided with trees. McRae had not been able to recover control of the aircraft because he was flying too fast and too low.

Sheriff Nikola Stewart concluded: "For a private pilot such as Mr McRae, lacking the necessary training, experience or requirement to do so, embarking upon such demanding, low-level flying in such difficult terrain, was imprudent, unreasonable and contrary to the principles of good airmanship."

The FAI found McRae, the youngest man ever to win the World Rally Championships drivers title with his victory for the Subaru team in 1995, did not hold a valid flying licence at the time of the crash and therefore should not have been flying the aircraft.

Jimmy McRae, father of Colin, said after the inquiry closed: "We still believe we will never know what caused the crash but we were never in any doubt as to Colin's prowess as a fine pilot."

"Everybody knows from Colin's rallying that safety is always an issue, and that his reactions and eye and hand co-ordination were world class."

A former rally driver himself, Jimmy McRae added: "The past four years have been extremely difficult for all the families concerned and we hope that now we can move forward."

Video recordings of the flight had been taken by passenger Graeme Duncan on a video camera he used inside the helicopter.

The footage demonstrated that McRae had consistently flown the aircraft at unnecessarily low heights throughout the fatal flight.