Piper PA-32R-301T Saratoga G-BNJS prior to its loss in the Lake District. It was built in 1981.
On 29th November 1987 the pilot of this aircraft was to have flown solo from Staverton to Prestwick, and using a route via Radnor, Wallasey and Deans Cross. The pilot owned a
boat that was moored in Scotland and he was flying there to arrange for it to moved nearer his home. The aircraft took off
at 13.20hrs with the pilot having received a weather forecast for the Prestwick area and deemed to suitable to make the flight. The pilot held no instrument flying qualifications
and should have flown keeping a visual fix on the ground. The aircraft flew north and into the Lake District; on this date low cloud was reported to have been down to around
1,000 feet. Why the pilot was flying at just below 3,000 feet when the aircraft struck Bow Fell at around 14.30hrs is not known. As he had no instrument flying training and
the cloud base was well below his height he cannot have seen the ground. The mountain was covered in snow at the time of the crew and although the crash was heard by walkers
it is thought that the site was not located for some days after.
Pilot - Mr Arthur Raymond Hiscox, aged 43. Burial location unknown.
Bowfell from the Crinkle Crags area (above) and the view from the crash site (below) in May 2007.
The aircraft crashed in this area (shown above) and much of the aircraft burnt out in the area just below the crash site (shown below).
Items showing the aircraft colour scheme.
The aircraft's aerial located just in front of the tail fin.
The broken Lycoming flat six engine and a marked cover plate.
One of the undercarriage legs and some of the Piper markings shown on it.
Arthur Hiscox was born in the Frome area of Somerset on 22nd February 1943 and was the son of Arthur and Elizabeth (nee Penny) Hiscox. He was from a large family. He married Vivienne Butt in the same area
in 1963 then Valerie Goss there five years later. Newspapers from the 1960s to the 1980s list numerous court appearances he made related to both driving related incidents and accidents, alongside handling stolen
goods and stealing items from a shop. He survived a serious car accident in October 1980 that wrote off his Rolls-Royce and at that time was still running a transport business. Despite all these run-ins with the
law earlier in his life, on probate after his death he was stated to have had a significant figure to his name. He had turned his life around; owing several hotels, an air freight business, two aircraft and
several houses around the world. It also seems likely that he founded The Hatton Collection of Hotels. He was living at Leighterton, Tetbury, Gloucestershire at the time of his death.
My thanks to Jim Corbett, Alan Clark, Mark Sheldon and Doug Brown for their input in documenting this incident.