McRae 'did not have flying licence'

Blondie · McRae 'did not have flying licence'

Rally driver Colin McRae did not have a valid flying licence when the helicopter he was piloting crashed killing four people.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch says the 39-year-old former world champion's documents had expired.

The crash happened September 15 2007 just 150 yards from the intended landing spot in the grounds of Mr McRae's home near Lanark in Scotland.

McRae died along with his five-year-old son Johnny, 37-year-old friend Graeme Duncan and six-year-old Ben Porcelli whose parents said today that the accident was "completely avoidable".

In trying to fly in a valley at relatively low height and high speed, Mr McRae was "undertaking a demanding manoeuvre", the report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.

The report added that a phenomenon that can give an impression that the controls are jammed may have led to the significant deviation in the flight path that Mr McRae was trying to recover from.

Disorientation, misjudgment or other factors may have led to this deviation but "the cause of the accident was not positively determined", the AAIB said.

In a statement, Ben's parents Mark and Karen Porcelli said: "We are relieved that the AAIB report has finally been published, particularly since the circumstances of the accident which took Ben's life were presented to us by the AAIB in February 2008.

"The cause of the crash is clearly outlined in the report. Most of the flight was captured on video and it is clearly evident that unnecessary risks were taken and that the accident was completely avoidable."

The report said that Mr McRae's five-year flying licence had expired in February 2005 and he was also not authorised to fly the type of helicopter he was operating - his "valid type rating" having expired in March 2007.

The AAIB said that there had been several cases between 2004 and the time of the accident of "non-compliance with existing regulations".

Lady Rachel

that just makes the whole thing a lot worse.

At last the families have some answers though.

I hope they can all move on and grieve knowing what happened.