INQUEST: Glider pilot Michael England, 57, took his own life at Aston Down airfield, coroner rules

A GLIDER pilot deliberately crashed to his death at Aston Down airfield, the Gloucestershire Coroner has ruled.

Michael England, 57, left a letter at his home saying, "Like my father I am now writing a suicide note," an inquest heard today.

Mr England, from School Road, Cheltenham, was known to suffer from depression and had made a failed suicide bid five years earlier.

He had always felt he was a 'failure in life,' the inquest was told.

On June 14, he circled above the Cotswold Gliding Club, where he was a member, seven to eight times before going into a nose dive and hitting a hangar roof.

The glider disintegrated as it bounced off the roof onto the ground and wreckage was spread over 30 to 40 yards.

Police investigating the crash discovered documents in his car relating to his late father's death.

They also found his suicide note at his home and it was apparent he had written it over several days from June 3 to June 12.

A friend of 25 years who he listed as an emergency contact, Yvette West from Kent, was contacted and she said he had phoned her about two hours before the crash, at 10am on June 14.

"It was a normal conversation about what we were going to do that day," she stated.

"During the conversation he told me he wished he had listened to me years ago.

"This referred to advice I had given him about buying a property rather than renting one.

"At the end of the conversation he thanked me for being a friend."

Later that evening, she stated, the police called informing her of his fatal crash.

"I asked the policeman if it was suicide," she stated.

"During our friendship I felt he may have suffered depression.

"He came across as negative and generally having low esteem. 

"Although there was no indication that he would take his life that day I was not shocked he had done so because he always gave me the impression he would one day."

Gloucestershire senior coroner Katie Skerrett recorded a verdict of suicide on Mr England.

A post mortem found he died from multiple injuries.

There was no alcohol in his body and the only drug found was a prescriptioin anti depressant.

Detective Sergeant Keith Limer told the inquest he attended the club after the crash and was told Mr England had been a member since the early 2000s and was a qualified pilot and entitled to fly solo.

He had left the club for a period but then returned.

His take off on the day of his death was 'perfect' and it circled the airfield 7-8 times but then went into an 80 degree angle nose dive, he said.

"It came down slightly off the airfield into an industrial park where old hangars from the World War Two aerodrome are still situated.

"It hit one of the hangars and then glanced off the roof, disintegrating and hitting the tarmac."

Sergeant Limer said that in Mr England's car he found medication including paracetemol, Sirtraline anti depressants, and diazepam. 

"There was a folder making reference to his father who used to be a professor working in a laboratory in New Zealand."

Another officer went to Mr England's address and found the suicide letter.

Mrs West's contact details were found so she was telephoned and told police he had been in a low mood that morning but that was not out of the ordinary.

"She stated that he always seemed to be low in mood and always thought he had been a failure in life. "

Paul Gentil, an instructor at the club, told the inquest he had met Mr England in 1999 and sent him up for his first solo flight in 2001.

He continued flying there for three to four years but then left for another club and returned to Aston Down in 2014.

Mr Gentil said he spoke to Mr England about photography 'which was his main thing' as he was preparing to fly on the day of his death.

Mr England was wearing a parachute, he said.

The launch went normally and he walked away and then heard a clubmate 'Oh my God the K8 has crashed into a hangar.'

Statements from other club members who saw the glider launch normally and circle overhead in the usual way before suddenly nose diving were also read out.

Senior aircraft inspector Stuart Hawkins of the Air Accident Investigation Board said he could find nothing technically wrong with the K8 which could have caused it to nose dive.

Another inspector Marcus Cook said the weather was perfect for gliding and Mr England had been airborne for about 10 minutes when he went into the 60-80 degree dive.

A report from the Overton Park GP surgery in Cheltenham said Mr England had depressive episodes, ongoing since 2001 and also tinnitus from the same period onwards.

He had made a suicide bid in 2006 by trying to kill himself with exhaust fumes in his car but had failed.

The coroner concluded: "His near vertical descent was an intentional act, a clear mechanism to assist in ending his own life and therefore suicide is the appropriate conclusion."