2013 Vauxhall helicopter crash
The damaged crane attached to St George Wharf Tower as seen on the day of the crash
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| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 16 January 2013, 07:59 GMT |
| Summary | Poor visibility; controlled flight into building |
| Site | Vauxhall, London, England |
| Passengers | 0 |
| Crew | 1 |
| Fatalities | 2 (including 1 on ground) |
| Injuries (non-fatal) | 12 (on ground) |
| Aircraft type | Agusta AW109 |
| Operator | RotorMotion |
| Registration | G-CRST |
| Flight origin | Redhill Airport, Surrey, England |
| Destination | Elstree Airfield, Hertfordshire, England (diverted to London Heliport) |
On 16 January 2013, at 07:59 GMT, a helicopter crashed in Vauxhall, London, after it collided with the jib of a construction crane attached to St George Wharf Tower. Two people died in the incident: the pilot, Pete Barnes, 50, and a pedestrian, Matthew Wood, 39, from Sutton in south London. Five people were taken to hospital and seven more were treated at the scene.
The pilot had diverted because of poor visibility. The official report concluded he was probably unaware how close the tower was, and that the deaths were accidental.
The helicopter involved was an Agusta AW109 with the registration G-CRST,msn 11017. At the time of the accident, it had flown for 2,304.5 hours. The helicopter was owned by Castle Air of Cornwall and leased to RotorMotion of Redhill, Surrey.
Barnes had been en route from Redhill Airport to Elstree Airfield to collect a passenger, businessman Richard Caring, and then fly onwards to Yorkshire. Before the pilot had taken off, Caring called him twice on his mobile phone to suggest either delaying or cancelling the flight. However, Barnes chose to proceed with the flight across London, in low cloud and freezing temperatures. After being unable to land at Elstree at 07:46, whilst returning south to Redhill, Barnes had asked Air Traffic Control at 07:56 for a change of route and permission to land at the London Heliport in Battersea.
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