Chelsea's Vice President Dies

[Joe Cool 388]

BBC

A millionaire businessman and Chelsea FC vice-president died in a helicopter crash when the pilot probably became disorientated, an accident report says.

A benign lesion in the pilot's brain could also have contributed to the accident in which four people died in Cambridgeshire on 1 May 2007.

Philip Carter, 44, his son Andrew, 17, pilot Stephen Holdich, 49, and Jonathan Waller, 42, all died.

The Chelsea fans had been watching a a Champions League game versus Liverpool.

The aircraft was flying to a private landing site near Peterborough.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said that as the pilot approached the destination, the helicopter - owned by Chelsea FC honorary vice-president Mr Carter - probably encountered an area of shallow fog and low cloud.

The pilot descended and, possibly using an illuminated haulage yard and quarry for guidance, attempted to fly below the cloud to complete the flight.

Brain lesion

"Imminent contact with the ground or impending contact with trees ahead forced the pilot to climb, where it is possible that he became [disorientated] and lost control", the report said.

The helicopter crashed in Bedford Purlieus Wood near Mr Carter's house where he lived with his son at the village of Thornhaugh, near Peterborough, at about midnight.

Pilot Stephen Holdich was originally from Peterborough but lived at Chidham in West Sussex and Jonathan Waller was a businessman from Liverpool.

The report said a post-mortem examination on the pilot discovered a lesion in the temporal lobe of the pilot's brain.

This was not considered a causal or contributory factor in the accident but "an aviation pathologist considered such lesions, whilst not necessarily causing total incapacitation, could, potentially impair one's ability to control a helicopter safely".

"Therefore the possibility that the lesion could have contributed to the cause of the accident could not be fully dismissed," the report concluded.

"In the absence of any technical defect or failure being found during the examination of the wreckage, it was concluded the pilot was forced to make a climbing turn to the left, possibly to avoid the ground and/or an area of woodland, and became [disorientated] and descended into trees."

Mr Carter, who founded and ran a training company at Ruddington in Nottinghamshire, was named UK Entrepreneur of the Year in an awards ceremony in 2006.

In September last year it was announced that he had left £123m in his will.

This was the second helicopter tragedy to hit Chelsea in recent years.

In 1996, the club's vice-chairman Matthew Harding and four others were killed when their Squirrel aircraft crashed as they returned from a Chelsea match at Bolton.

RIP

[Fulham Broadway 17,311]

Remenber this after the scouse game -never heard of him to be honest. Matthew Harding was the one that sticks in the memory.

Helicopters ? Just say No.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Obviously my respects go to the family. RIP.