A post-mortem has shown that an 82-year-old pilot died of a heart attack after a plane crash at an airfield on the Essex-Suffolk border last summer.
The man, who had more than 1,500 flying hours, crashed the 1971 Taylor Monoplane, G-AYSH at Nayland Airfield, off Campions Hill at 9.36am on Tuesday, June 17, 2025.
A report into the crash said he had taken off from Retreat Farm, also known as Little Baddow Airfield in Essex.
He was first discovered by a pilot arriving at the airfield at 10.15am, who then alerted the emergency services.
Suffolk police and the ambulance service attended the crash, with a spokesman confirming at the time that the man was died at the scene.
The crash has since been investigated by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, who found that the right shock-absorber on the main landing gear was seized and 8.24mm out-of-true.
A spokesman for the AAIB said it "may have contributed to the aircraft veering to the left during landing.
"The condition of the right leg cylinder’s outer surface in comparison to the left indicates it may have had restricted compression for some time."
In its report, the AAIB said: "The aircraft had travelled approximately 30 m through long grass to the left of the runway, before nosing over."
The plane was powered by a VW 1600cc engine which is typically found in a Beetle or VW Bus.
At the time it was flying at 200 feet between Tiptree and Kelvedon, on its way to Nayland.
The report stated that this was not unusual and previous flight data showed similar routs and altitudes between the airfields taken by the pilot.
They also stated that there had been a fuel leak and the canopy was broken, which was proportionate with the nose-over event and the response of the emergency services.
