A 57-year-old flying instructor died during a circuit flight over Blackpool Airport after suffering cardiac arrest in the air last summer.
According to a newly published safety report about the incident, the pilot he was accompanying didn’t notice his death — or rather, thought the dead man was pulling a prank on him.
The incident occurred on June 29, 2022, when the pilot asked the instructor to accompany him on the flight.
The instructor agreed to fit in the short flight after he finished a lesson and later boarded the four-person Piper PA-28 plane.
The pilot recalls that the last thing he heard the instructor say was “looks good, there is nothing behind you,” just before takeoff.
“The pilot still thought the instructor was just joking with him and continued to fly the approach,” according to the report.
The instructor also had a history of hypertension and had been taking blood pressure medication since 2002, the report details. »
