Two pilots presumed dead after their plane crashed into the English Channel at 100mph lost control in dense tornado clouds, a report has found. Lee Rogers and Brian Statham had taken off from Wellesbourne Mountford Airfield near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, on the morning of April 2.
They were heading to Le Touquet, a seaside town in northern France, when their Piper Cherokee Arrow II lost radar contact before crashing into the sea. Police said at the time the pair had lost control in "freak weather conditions" while on the fly-out with six other aircrafts from their flying club.
An Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) probe has now revealed they got into difficulty after flying into "highly convective cloud" which were creating waterspouts. Investigators said neither men were qualified to fly in cloud and they may have encountered heavy turbulence as well as rain and snow showers.
