Cairn Gorm crash pilot was caught in Arctic blizzard

Published on Wednesday 11 November 2009 21:47

A WEALTHY property tycoon was killed when his light plane crashed near the summit of Cairn Gorm as he tried to divert to Aberdeen airport in an Arctic blizzard, an air accident investigation report has revealed.

Gary Key, 45, ploughed into the mountain with his plane's engine still at cruising speed as he flew to the north of Scotland during a planned flight to the United States in April last year.

The property developer, who was the managing director of Olympia Homes, was not qualified to fly in cloud. And he bought an aeronautical map of Scotland only the day before he was killed on the 4,085ft peak. He crashed about 150ft below the summit.

A report published today by the government's Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) states that Mr Key had been approaching Inverness in severe weather when he elected to divert to Aberdeen.

He was only 15 miles from Inverness when he turned east and towards higher terrain. Within minutes his Piper Cherokee aircraft crashed in cloud into the side of the fog-shrouded Munro.

The main wreckage of the aircraft came to rest on the northern flank of Cairn Gorm, close to the Aviemore ski area.

Rescue teams found Mr Key's body in the cockpit. He had died from multiple injuries, including head injuries caused by large acceleration forces when the aircraft struck the ground.

Witness reports of the conditions at the time also suggest that the pilot would not have seen the terrain ahead of him in sufficient time to avoid the impact.

Mr Key, of Stourport, Worcestershire, was killed on 5 April, 2008, shortly before 10am. According to the AAIB, Mr Key had been planning to fly his plane to Orlando in Florida and had begun his journey from an airfield in Nottinghamshire the previous day.