ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 18975
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| Date: | Tuesday 2 July 1985 |
| Time: | 17:13 |
| Type: |  Pitts S-1E Special |
| Owner/operator: | LEC Refrigeration |
| Registration: | G-POKE |
| MSN: | 345H |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | 1 mile off Bognor Regis,West Sussex -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Demo/Airshow/Display |
| Departure airport: | Private Airstrip, Bognor Regis, West Sussex |
| Investigating agency: | AIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
David Purley, the heir to the LEC Refrigeration business, took to aerobatics when his career as a racing driver concluded. He owned Pitts S-1D Special G-POKE which, on the afternoon of 2 July 1985, took off from the LEC company airfield at Bognor Regis. He was seen performing aerobatic manoeuvres over the sea off Chichester and Pagham Harbours before returning in the direction of Bognor Regis. Here he performed a pull up and vertical climb, as if to perform a stall turn. At a height of between 500 and 1200 feet (according to the AIB report, which presumably drew on the accounts of eye witnesses on shore) the engine noise of the Pitts decreased and it entered a rotational descent, out of which it didn't start to pull until it was nearly at sea level. However that was too late. The Pitts hit the sea at an angle of 30⁰, with its wings level, at a low to moderate speed and sank to a depth of 15 to 20 feet. The eye witnesses alerted the emergency services. The lifeboats from Littlehampton and Selsey were launched and a navy helicopter took off from Lee-on-Solent. The Selsey lifeboat found the wreckage and sent divers down to it, from which they recovered Purley's dead body.
The wreckage of the Pitts was recovered from the sea and taken to the AIB at Farnborough. On examination there a defect to the Pitts' fuel system was discovered. The inlet side of the non-return valve to the engine's fuel pump was blocked, to an extent of 75 to 80%, by a rubber flap that originated from one of the fuel supply hoses. Because the engine was fitted with a pressure carburettor, such a significant reduction in the fuel supply would have had an immediate effect on the engine power. This probably this accounted for the witnesses hearing a decrease in the engine noise and, effectively, the Pitts falling out of the sky.
It seems that the fact that Purley died in the crash was not attributable entirely to the impact on entry into the water. The AIB examination revealed that the two cables securing the upper torso restraint had failed at low loading and that the cable links did not conform to manufacturer's standards (G-POKE was not a factory built Pitts). Seemingly as a result, Purley's upper torso was thrown forward, on impact with the water, and his head struck the Pitts' instrument panel with sufficient force to deform it. What the AIB report does not say is whether the cause of death was this blow to Purley's head or whether this rendered him unconscious and he then drowned. However what the report does seem to intimate is that if the upper torso restraint securing cables had not failed, Purley would not have suffered the head injury and he may have been able to release himself from his straps and the cockpit and thus save his own life. As the AIB report says: '..... two failures occurred which may be considered to have had a direct influence upon the survivability of the accident'
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Purley
2. https://www.gov.uk/aaib-reports/pitts-s-1d-special-g-poke-2-july-1985
3. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=15208.0
4. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13641521
5. https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/september-1985/41/looking-back-david-purley-gm
6. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-POKE.pdf
7. https://badgergp.com/david-purley-a-hero-remembered/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-May-2008 11:10 | ASN archive | Added |
| 13-Feb-2011 05:05 | vhkdk | Updated [Other fatalities, Phase, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 23-Dec-2012 16:18 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Nature, Departure airport, Source] |
| 19-May-2013 20:34 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 27-Jul-2019 07:13 | Anon. | Updated [Narrative] |
| 28-Feb-2020 17:14 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 28-Feb-2020 17:20 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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