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David Leslie - RIP


Craig
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What is it with Scottish motorsport personalities and aircraft crashes?? First Coulthard had that lucky escape, then we lost Colin McRae and now David Leslie is gone :nufc:

 

RIP big fella - used to like watching him in the BTCC

 

Teams are preparing to recover the bodies of five people killed after a private jet crashed into a housing estate at Farnborough, Kent.

 

Ex-touring car racer David Leslie, team owner Richard Lloyd and pilot Mike Roberts were among those who died.

 

No survivors were found after the Cessna jet crashed and burst into flames on Sunday, destroying a house.

 

Air accident investigators are working at the scene and will study reports of engine problems just after take-off.

 

The plane was on a business flight from nearby Biggin Hill airfield to France.

 

In the moments before the crash, the pilot reportedly told air traffic control of severe engine vibrations and asked for permission to land again.

 

Two pilots and three passengers were killed when the Cessna Citation 1 jet came down in Romsey Close at about 1430 BST.

 

Residents who watched in horror as the plane plummeted with a loud "roar" said it was a "miracle" that no-one on the ground was badly injured. Two people were treated for shock.

 

The people who live in the damaged house were away on holiday and are now staying with friends.

 

When air accident investigators have finished their initial search, including looking for the flight recorder, and surveyors give the all clear, police will move in to try to recover bodies.

 

Bromley police Chief Superintendent Charles Griggs said: "The site itself is relatively dangerous.

 

"Once they give us the all clear, my body recovery team will go on to site, and it will be a slow painstaking recovery, because, on behalf of the coroner, we have to focus on identity."

 

Seven families in the close had been evacuated after the crash, and they would be not be able to return for several days.

 

The wreckage will later be taken to Farnborough, Hampshire, for examination.

 

Family liaison officers were in contact with families of four of the victims, police said, but the fifth family had not yet been traced.

 

Mr Leslie, 54, who was born in Dumfriesshire, was best known for winning nine races in a 13-year touring car career in the Super Tourer era of the 1990s.

 

Friends have described him as a "good and kind" man who helped younger racing drivers, including David Coulthard.

 

It is thought he was working on setting up the new Jaguar racing team with fellow victim Richard Lloyd, 63, the boss of Apex Motorsport, and also a former touring car champion.

 

BBC transport correspondent Tom Symonds said accidents were rare among Cessna jets such as the one in Sunday's crash.

 

Engine failure at or just after take-off is one of the most serious problems a pilot can face, because the plane is at a low altitude, climbing at a lower speed, and full of fuel.

 

A pilot named as John, who was landing another plane at Biggin Hill at the time, heard the mayday call. The Cessna pilot reported "severe engine vibrations", he said.

 

He told the BBC: "You could hear the alarms in the cockpit.

 

"The pilot came back over the radio a second or two later and said 'We're going down, we're going down'.

 

"The radio stayed live, and as I turned off the runway I looked back and I saw the plane basically drop out of the sky.

 

"And then the radio went dead and black smoke came up from over the hill."

 

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7321997.stm

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I f you live in Scotland its a bloody long way to anywhere else - so if you have the dosh you take a private jet............

Except England and Ireland.

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I f you live in Scotland its a bloody long way to anywhere else - so if you have the dosh you take a private jet............

 

What the fuck has that got to do with a private jet going from Biggin Hill to the south of France? :)

 

I suppose they died long before they hit the ground as well did they? :blink:

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