Solar Wings Pegasus XL-R G-MTOY at Crosland Moor airfield.
Prior to this incident the pilot had undertaken limited microlight flying training. On Saturday, 21st May 1988 he carried out some flying training in the area of Doncaster airfield with an instructor observing him from the ground. Later in the day he planned to undertake a cross country flight from Doncaster to Crosland Moor airfield that would see him complete his microlight pilot training. He took off from Doncaster flew to the landing circuit at Crosland Moor by 18.00hrs. At that time several people were working on an aircraft that had crashed just off Crosland Moor airfield earlier in the day though this was not presenting itself as a hazard for landing. While flying in the landing circuit the pilot began to descend. The people working on the other crashed aircraft later stated that they believed that the engine of the microlight was running at low power when it was in the circuit of the airfield. While flying alongside the runway the microlight made a turn back toward the runway to land. It continued to turn beyond the runway centre-line and descend more steeply with the descent becoming increasingly steep until it struck a grass bank some sixty five feet from the runway. The microlight's nose wheel snapped off in the impact and this caused the end of an exposed tube to dig into the ground, this then caused it to somersault. A nine stone sand ballast container broke off in the impact, struck the underside of the sail canopy and split. Unfortunately the pilot was killed as a result of the crash. The AAIB accident report does not state the cause of the crash but considering it reported on the low flying speed and the crash occurring after a turn it does perhaps suggest that the microlight had stalled. Whether the ballast weight that came adrift struck the pilot is not stated on the report. The microlight aircraft was registered to Mr Humphris (of Hayton, Nottinghamshire) and Mr Nigel Boyd Morley (of Doncaster) who probably based it at Doncaster airfield.
Pilot - Mr Peter Michael Humphris. Aged 49. Buried Hayton, Nottinghamshire.