Inexperience or distraction may have been to blame for an accident in which a flying instructor died and his student was seriously injured, a report said today.

Oxford flying instructor Tom Dunn died in a light aircraft crash after practising an engine failure drill for his student in February this year.

The aircraft went out of control after the 28-year-old instructor who worked for the Pilot Flight Training, based at Oxford Airport, simulated an engine failure.

There was a sudden loss of air speed, leading to a stall and one of the wings dropping, said the Air Accidents Investigation Branch report. The Reims Cessna aircraft went into a nose-down spiral and crashed, killing the instructor and seriously injuring the student, who has not been named.

The report said: "Inexperience or distraction may have led to the instructor failing to maintain air-speed for the conditions."

The Cessna was returning to Oxford Airport, Kidlington, at the time of the accident, near Turweston aerodrome in Northamptonshire.

Mr Dunn took off in the dual-control Cessna at the airfield near Brackley, between Buckingham and Banbury, but after a short flight the plane crashed to the ground.

The instructor was declared dead at the scene and the student was airlifted to the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

Story date: Tuesday 11 May

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