9 May 2003
A pilot who successfully made an emergency landing on Worthing beach following an engine failure has won the CAA’s top safety award for 2002.
Christopher Linton, of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, was flying his Beech Bonanza last May when the engine failed covering the windscreen in oil and filling the cockpit with smoke.
Mr Linton instructed one of his passengers to hold open the passenger door to help clear the smoke, and with no power and limited visibility landed safely on Worthing beach. Both he and his two passengers escaped with only minor injuries. For his skilfull and professional flying he was awarded the CAA Tiger Moth Trophy.
The annual Awards, which included FLYER Editor Nick Wall among the judges, were presented by Lord Glenarthur, Chairman of the British Helicopter Advisory Board, at the RAF Club in London on May 8.
The runners-up were John Romain, from Great Abington near Cambridge, who landed a Spitfire safely at Bourn Airfield with just 30ft of runway remaining after losing power, and Robert Cassidy, of Whitley Bay, Tyne & Wear, who lost the engine on his PA-25 Pawnee while towing a glider yet managed to wave off the glider before making a forced landing back on the airfield. Both received silver medals and framed certificates.
The CAA’s Group Director of Safety Regulation, Richard Profit, said: ‘It is a pleasure to pay tribute to these exceptional feats of airmanship. I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to the pilots we have commended.
‘Although the safety record of UK aviation is second to none, we cannot afford to be complacent. For general aviation, there were 11 fatal accidents in 2002, which regrettably claimed 18 lives.’
