Plane made Mayday call and flipped over in field after flight from Cambs airport

The plane ended up upside down in a field
-Credit: (Image: AAIB)


A passenger was injured after a plane that had taken off from a Cambridgeshire airfield flipped over after making a forced landing in a Welsh field. The Beagle B121 Series 2 Pup, G-AZCZ had a 28-year-old pilot and a female passenger on board when it took off from St Athan Airfield in South Wales earlier that day.

The pilot had hoped to fly to Sywell in Northamptonshire, however changed course due to weather and landed at Duxford. After several hours on the ground in Duxford, the aircraft - which was built in 1970 - started taxing for take-off at around 2.53pm on March 3, 2024.

A report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, released on Thursday, September 12, said: "The pilot reported that he did not check the fuel indicators in the cockpit prior to departure because he was not confident of their accuracy but had visually checked the fuel tanks during his preflight checks. Unlike the PA-28 he was more familiar with, G-AZCZ’s fuel tanks were not fitted with a filler neck quantity indicator (known as “tabs” on the PA-28). However, the pilot advised that he had visually estimated the fuel quantity in each tank.

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"This was made by lowering the securing chains of the fuel filler caps into the tanks to estimate the relative level of the fuel from the top of the filler orifice. He advised that he had not been shown or used this procedure before but that it appeared to support his estimate of the remaining fuel and decided that it was not necessary to uplift fuel at Duxford."

The aircraft took off at 3pm and started heading back towards Wales. However problems started when the pilot changed from the left to right fuel tank while in the Gloucestershire area.

The AAIB report said: "Between five to ten seconds later the engine started to lose power. The pilot checked the instruments and saw that the fuel pressure was low, following which he identified that the fuel selector was not correctly positioned into the detent for the right tank. Having corrected this, engine power was restored. The pilot advised that he had initially considered diverting to Gloucestershire Airport but, satisfied that he had identified the problem, decided to continue to St Athan."

The aircraft continued its journey and got clearance to land at St Athan. However issues started again when the pilot switched fuel tank once more.

The report added: "Approximately five to ten seconds after selecting the left fuel tank the engine started to lose power. The pilot saw that the fuel pressure was indicating zero and so checked that the electric fuel pump was on; which it was.

"He recalled that he had then possibly changed back and forth several times between the left and right tank, but the engine did not regain power.

"The pilot declared a MAYDAY and, being aware that he was closer to Cardiff Airport, turned towards Runway 12. As the aircraft descended, the pilot was not certain that it would make the runway and so decided to land in a field. During the landing roll the nosewheel dug into the soft ground and the aircraft tipped over.

"The pilot was uninjured, but his passenger suffered an injury to her shoulder. The emergency services and a SAR helicopter arrived on site shortly after and provided medical assistance.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch report stated said the pilot’s 'fuel planning did not take full account of the additional fuel required to fly on to Duxford, unusable fuel, or fuel usage during the ground and initial climb phases'

It added: "During the approach to land at St Athan, the engine suffered from a loss of power which was most likely due to fuel starvation. The pilot subsequently landed the aircraft in a field, during which the aircraft tipped over. The passenger was injured, and the aircraft damaged beyond repair."

The report concluded: This accident highlights the need for effective pre-flight fuel planning, which includes allowance for unusable fuel and fuel used during ground and initial climb phases."