ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 281686
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| Date: | Sunday 23 October 1983 |
| Time: | 17:00 |
| Type: | Pterodactyl Ptraveller |
| Owner/operator: | John Christopher Keith Scardifield (regd. owner) |
| Registration: | G-MBAW |
| MSN: | 017 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Location: | Milford-on-Sea Beach, Milford-on-Sea, Lymington, Hampshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Milford-on-Sea Beach, Milford-on-Sea, Lymington, Hampshire |
| Milford-on-Sea Beach, Milford-on-Sea, Lymington, Hampshire |
The Pterodactyl family of microlights had their origins in hang gliders and were amongst the earliest examples of the minimalist 'weight shift' aeroplanes that developed into todays's microlights. One such example was G-MBAW, a Pterodactyl Ptraveller, which had a canard elevator and differed from the early 'weight shift' examples by using, as its means of flight control, a side mounted stick which, by fore and aft movement, operated the canard elevator and, by side to side movement, operated the rudders mounted on the wing tips. Essentially it was a 'two axis' microlight. The aircraft has a recorded build date of "1979", although it was not registered until 14 July 1981 (some 18 months later) to an owner in Verwood, Dorset. He sold it on to the second and final owner on 3 February 1982 (who re-registered it in his name on 17 February 1982).
On the early evening of 23 October 1983 an RAF officer was on the beach at Milford-on-Sea when he noticed the Pterodactyl at about 500 feet above him. As he watched it, it became evident that it was making an approach to land on a sand bank some fifty metres out to sea. Why the pilot wanted to do so is not mentioned in the AAIB report and it's hard to deduce a reason - beyond the possibility of this being of the 'because it's there' variety or simply recklessness. There is no suggestion in the report that the Pterodactyl or its pilot were in trouble and/or were trying to make an emergency landing.
Further evidence to support this is to be had in the statement by the RAF officer, which was that the Pterodactyl did not land on this approach but flew a circuit before making another approach to land on the sand bank. It would seem that what the pilot intended to do was to make a 'touch and go' landing on the sand bank. If so, this did not go according to plan. Rather than touching down on the sand and then lifting off, the Pterodactyl over-ran the sand bank (maybe the sand was softer, wetter and with a rougher surface than he anticipated?) and went into the water. This must have arrested its progress to a degree sufficient to cause it to pitch over onto its nose in the sea.
The pilot, who was uninjured in the accident, promptly abandoned the Pterodactyl and swam clear of it. The RAF officer who continued to watch - presumably with amazement - to what was happening, then sourced a rope from the beach lifeguard, returned to the shore and threw the rope to the swimming pilot. He then attached it to the Pterodactyl and the RAF officer and others on the beach pulled both the Pterodactyl and its pilot to shore.
One assumes that the pilot of the Pterodactyl was John Christopher Keith Scardifield, who lived in Milford-on-Sea. The Pterodactyl was registered to him at the time of this accident. It appears that the Pterodactyl did not suffer much from its dip in the briny as its registration was not cancelled by the CAA until 14 November 2018, during which time it remained registered to Mr Scardifield (who is now deceased). Whether it was again flown by him in this period, I know not.
The demise of Mr. Scardifield were the grounds that the CAA cancelled the registration - but it should be made clear that the above incident was non-fatal (Mr. Scardifield died several years later)
Sources:
1. AAIB: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422eb17e5274a1314000057/Pteradactyl_G-MBAW_04-84.pdf
2. CAA: https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-MBAW.pdf
3. https://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=18703.0
4. https://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/G-MBAW.html
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milford_on_Sea
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Aug-2022 20:14 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
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