Pilot error is blamed for stunt plane's tribute gaffe
Alex Gore • Published 27 Dec 2011 12:00
ENRAGED villagers are demanding an apology after a light plane "buzzed" their Remembrance Sunday service.
The service at Mortimer War Memorial was attended by parish councillors, Royal British Legion members and around 250 villagers but the solemn ceremony was disrupted by the antics of the noisy bi-plane.
Cllr Graham Puddephatt said: "At 11 o'clock on Remembrance Sunday when everything else, including the cars, had been stopped, you had this aircraft rolling and tumbling and looping the loop. There were people there who may not be with us for the next one, it was really quite upsetting.
"He must have been able to see the crowd. It just should not happen."
The plane appeared at around 10.50am and remained overhead until 11.20am and parish council inquiries, after obtaining a map from Farnborough Radar, suggest it took off from, and landed, at White Waltham Airfield, near Maidenhead. The council discussed the issue on December 8 when Cllr Puddephatt told them he still had not had a satisfactory response.
But this week airfield manager John Walker refused to apologise and accused the council of being "discourteous" by talking to the Chronicle without first writing to him.
Cllr Puddephatt said he telephoned Mr Walker, suggesting he makes an apology and a donation to the Royal British Legion. He is adamant he told him he was calling on behalf of the parish council and subsequently sent three emails, addressed to Mr Walker and three other senior staff, without response.
Mr Walker told The Chronicle "a gentleman" phoned but did not say he was from the council. He stressed that a minute's silence was observed at the airfield that morning.
He added that he is yet to see any proof that the offending plane came from White Waltham. However, he admitted a pilot took off from the airfield at around 10.40am with the intention of performing aerobatics in "that general area".
Mr Walker acknowledged the pilot's lack of judgement, but added: "Why should we apologise? It's not our problem. He has not done anything illegal. The person we are talking about is a foreign national and is out of the country at the moment.
"What he does when he is in the air is entirely up to him. When he is back, and I have not seen him since, we will have a quiet word in his ear."
The Civil Aviation Authority said planes must not fly lower than 500ft in rural areas but there are no specific regulations or guidelines covering Remembrance Sunday services.
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 22 Dec 11
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