Camera drop may have led to Colin McRae crash

A DROPPED video camera may have led to the fatal helicopter crash that killed former world rally champion Colin McRae.

An inquiry into the accident yesterday heard that an attempt to retrieve the handheld camera could have caused Mr McRae's friend, Graeme Duncan, to interfere with the aircraft's controls.

Geoffrey Connolly, a flight instructor who investigated the accident on behalf of the McRae family, said the controls may have been nudged while the helicopter was flying low. He was speaking at the inquiry into the crash near Lanark in September 2007 which claimed the lives of McRae, his son Johnny, five, and family friends Ben Porcelli, six, and Mr Duncan, 37.

Lanark Sheriff Court heard that the dual controls on McRae's Eurocopter Squirrel helicopter had not been removed before the fatal flight, increasing the risk of passenger interference.

Mr Connolly, 60, a former RAF pilot, said McRae was trying to recover from a problem he had encountered when the aircraft hit trees.