A helicopter crash that killed Leicester City’s owner and four other people at the King Power Stadium was an accident, an inquest jury ruled today.
The helicopter crash tragically claimed the lives of billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and his fellow passengers Kaveporn Punpare and Nusara Suknamai, alongside pilot Eric Swaffer and his partner Izabela Roza Lechowicz.
The helicopter, a Leonard AW169, ‘aggressively’ spun out of control from a height of 430ft and was then ‘engulfed’ in flames after taking off from the pitch on October 27, 2018.
Senior coroner Catherine Mason addressed the jury at Leicester City Hall yesterday and instructed them to return the conclusion that the crash was accidental.
‘The helicopter crash was a terrible tragedy that cost the lives of five people,’ she said. ‘These were remarkable individuals who were greatly loved and will be terribly missed. This hearing is to explain to the world how they came to die.’
The jury was told to ‘accept and follow’ the findings of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch’s (AAIB) probe into the crash, including that the pilot took ‘appropriate’ measures and ‘did not contribute’ to the helicopter’s loss of control.
The inquest was told by Mark Jarvis, a principal inspector for the AAIB, that the helicopter spun due to a mechanical fault. A bearing in the tail rotor became ‘seized’, causing a control shaft to rotate and become unscrewed.
The helicopter crash killed Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four others
The helicopter span after taking off from the pitch and crashed before bursting into flames
A tribute to Mr Srivaddhanaprabha in the Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha Memorial Garden, which is on the site of the crash
The helicopter burst into flames shortly after taking off
The helicopter crashed onto its left-hand side on a concrete step, leading to a ‘substantial’ fuel leak which ignited the rear of the aircraft within a minute of the impact. Flames ‘rapidly’ consumed the helicopter, the jury heard.
The court heard that four of the five people killed in the crash died because of smoke inhalation after the fire broke out, while Ms Lechowicz ‘likely died at the point of impact’ as a result of traumatic injuries to both her head and chest.
Dr Michael Biggs, a forensic pathologist, told the inquest that there was no evidence to suggest the pilot was medically incapacitated at the time of the crash.
The jury was told that the report made it clear the pilot did ‘nothing wrong’ and attempted to save the passengers by reducing the rate of the helicopter’s spin.
However, it was established that the ‘crash landing was inevitable’.
