Ex-RAF Wing Commander died in Dubai plane crash along with two other Brits after flying too close to A350 Airbus, inquest hears

A former RAF Wing Commander died in a plane crash along with two other Brits after flying too close to an A350 Airbus, an inquest has heard.

RAF veteran David Phillips, 52, copilot William Blackburn, 26, and engineer Christopher Stone, 59, were killed instantly when their DA62 light aircraft was caught in turbulence created by a commercial airliner.

At the time of the crash in 2019 the three men were performing inspections of a newly refurbished runway at Dubai International Airport for a company called Flight Calibration Services Ltd.

Also killed in the crash was a South African national, Fritz Venter, who had helped install new runway lights and wanted to see them from the air.

Phillips, who had a distinguished career in the RAF spanning more than 30 years, made nine approaches to the runway on May 16, 2019, but on the tenth approach he flew in 90 seconds behind a 176 tonne A350 Airbus.

To maintain a safe distance from the airliner, which was landing on a parallel runway, the light aircraft should have been seven nautical miles away.

However, an investigation by the UAE aviation authorities found it was just 3.7 nautical miles away.

The inquest heard that Mr Phillips, from Newcastle, had been warned on several occasions by air traffic control over the danger of wake turbulence, which can cause smaller planes to lose control in a vortex.

RAF veteran David Phillips, 52, died in a plane crash along with two other Brits after flying too close to an A350 Airbus, an inquest has heard

Phillips, who had a distinguished career in the RAF spanning more than 30 years, died after getting into trouble in an aircraft in Dubai in 2019

A report by the Civil Aviation Authority revealed of the ten approaches made by the DA62 aircraft, six were made inside of the recommended safe distance.

After being caught in turbulence, the light aircraft rolled to the left, but was recovered.

However, it was then hit again, at an altitude of just 1,170 ft, and became inverted.

The plane entered a steep dive before crashing and exploding in a fireball around 3.5 miles south of the airport.

Senior coroner Samantha Marsh said to have had any chance at retrieving control over the plane, it would have needed to be at an altitude of at least 1,800 ft.

All the men aboard the aircraft died instantly of multiple catastrophic and unsurvivable injuries.

Giving evidence to the court, Marcus Cook, a senior investigator at the Air Accidents Investigation Branch explained that there was no flight data or cockpit voice recordings.

However, Mr Cook had heard recordings from air traffic control, where he heard the crew of the DA62 being issued cautions over their closeness to surrounding aircraft.

A DA62 light aircraft, which was the same model the crew were in when it was caught in turbulence created by a commercial airliner

Explaining the danger of the so-called wake vortex, the turbulence trail left behind by other planes, Mr Cook said: ‘You have not got the control authority, it will give you turbulence and you may not have enough control to fly through it safely or regain control. It’s basically a large spiral in the sky.’

Mr Cook also read from the Emirate report, which found that the accident was caused by an ‘encounter with vortices generated by a preceding Airbus’ and that the pilot’s decision to reduce separation to traffic was a contributing factor to the crash.

Summing up the evidence, senior coroner Samantha Marsh said: ‘The plane was registered and kept at Dubai due to the amount of work FCSL did out there. It had recently been serviced for its 100 hours service.

‘It was fitted with integrated aviation system which would provide all the information needed on a TV screen in the cockpit. 

‘The plane also had a traffic avoidance system to ascertain presence of other aircraft in the sky.

‘The calibration flights were carried out under visual flight rules, which put simply, means the pilot flew by what they could see out of the window with some advice from air traffic control.

‘Mr Cook’s evidence he was aware that air traffic control was giving regular updates to the plane about other aircraft but as to the exact nature and content of that advice is unknown as there are no cockpit recordings and no transcripts available.

‘Mr Cook confirmed in his evidence a cautionary warning was thought to be given.

Dubai International Airport (pictured) is one of the world’s busiest aviation hubs

‘Although information was not thought to be specific as to the type of aircraft and its weight, but simply, a caution was given.

‘It was decided flight crew would apply their own separation as per standard operation procedure.

‘Weight vortices are essentially as Mr Cook explained a turbulence that another airplane might not be able to fly through safely.

‘An A350 Airbus performed an uneventful precision approach and landed on runway 30R. This Airbus caused an upset to the DA62. The pilot managed to regain control after the first upset. 

‘The pilot was unable to recover from the second upset given the lower altitude of his plane.

‘The plane sadly continued into a steep dive before impacting ground 3.5 miles south of Dubai International Airport with eye witnesses reporting the plane exploded into a fireball.’

Mrs Marsh found the aircraft had been properly certified, equipped and maintained and that there was no defect which caused or contributed to the crash, ruling the deaths accidental after ‘the plane essentially got too close to the other aircraft and shortened the ICAO weight turbulence separation distances.’

In a family statement read out in court pilot David Phillips was described as a ‘beloved husband, uncle and brother-in-law’ with a distinguished career in the RAF spanning more than 30 years.

The sister of Christopher Stone, the inflight engineer who had moved to Malaysia, said the family were struggling to come to terms with the fact they will never see him again but said he died doing the job he loved.

While copilot William Blackburn, from the Isle of Man, was described by his father as ‘kind hearted toward everyone he met’, adding: ‘William was a lovely caring soul we were immensely proud of him for his professional achievements and for who he was as a person.’