THE family of a pilot who died in a crash at Castle Howard earlier this year have tackled the Great Newham London Run, to raise money in his memory.

Ajvir Singh Sandhu was 25 when, on April 30, the Slingsby Firefly light aircraft that he and another man, Cameron Forster, were flying crash-landed in a field close to Welburn, near Castle Howard. Both men were killed.

Now his parents, Amrik and Nari Sandhu, have been joined by 13 other members of their family to do the 10k run on Sunday. At the time of writing, the family had beaten their £15,000 target, with nearly £19,000 being raised from hundreds of donations.

Ajvir’s parents said: "He was a true born leader and we were privileged to be able to call him our son. In his short 25 years, Ajvir had a huge impact on everyone he met and will be sadly missed by many.

"We have come together to raise money for the RAF Association to commemorate Ajvir and show gratitude for the support we’ve been given by the RAF family during this difficult time.

"We are overwhelmed by the generosity our friends and family have shown and we would like to thank everyone who has made a donation."

Ajvir graduated with a first class masters in geoscience from Durham University. Starting out as a cadet, he served for seven years and left as cadet warrant officer. During his younger years, Ajvir was awarded a flying scholarship, gliding scholarship, and was selected from 3,000 cadets to accompany the Lord Lieutenant on royal duties throughout 2010.

After taking a leading role within the Northumbria University Air Squadron, he was selected for RAF pilot training passing out of initial stages gaining the Hennessey Trophy and Philip Sassoon Memorial Prize.

Ajvir was undertaking fast-jet training with Number 72 (Reserve) Squadron at RAF Linton-on-Ouse.

The RAF Association is a membership organisation and registered charity that provides welfare support to the RAF family. Receiving no government contributions, their work is completely funded by members and through donations from supporters in the general public and from businesses.