ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 245285
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| Date: | Wednesday 29 July 1981 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | MEA Pterodactyl Series.2 |
| Owner/operator: | David Lee Giles |
| Registration: | G-MBAC |
| MSN: | DG-1 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Rudgwick, 6 miles West of Horsham, West Sussex -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Rudgwick, West Sussex |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
MEA Pterodactyl Series.2 G-MBAC: Also known as (per the CAA Documentation) "Micro Engineering (Aviation) Ltd Pterodactyl Ptraveller". First registered 2 June 1981 to David Lee Giles, Hove, East Sussex.
Written off (destroyed) 29 July 1981 when crashed at Rudgwick (a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England). The village is 6 miles (10 km) west from Horsham on the north side of the A281 road. The pilot and registered owner was killed. Note that most contemporary newspaper reports gives the crash location (misleadingly) as "Billinghurst". For example, the "Liverpool Echo" for Thursday 30 July 1981:
"Pilot killed
Hang glider pilot David Giles, 25, of Lawrence Road, Hove, Sussex, plunged 300 feet to his death in a field at Billinghurst when his powered machine stalled".
Whilst the Pterodactyl range of ultralight (known in the UK as microlight) aeroplanes had their origins in the Manta Fledge hang gliders of the seventies, hang gliders are, as their name suggests, unpowered and thus G-MBAC was not, despite the assertions in the (presumably syndicated) news reports, a hang glider. It had a canard type wing arrangement; was powered by a 430cc, 30hp, two stroke, two cylinder engine; and its control was a mixture of stick and weight shift.
Registration G-MBAC cancelled by the CAA as 'destroyed' on 2 August 1984,
Sources:
1. Liverpool Echo - Thursday 30 July 1981
2. Daily Mirror - Thursday 30 July 1981 (in the 'News Extra' column )
3. Aberdeen Evening Express - Thursday 30 July 1981
4. CAA: https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-MBAC.pdf
5. https://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/G-MBAC.html
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudgwick
7. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=17935.0
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 30-Nov-2020 18:46 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 30-Nov-2020 18:48 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 06-Dec-2020 00:37 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
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