A PLANE crashed near Castle Howard - killing both people on board - after it carried out a loop and entered a spin, investigators have concluded.

Ajvir Singh Sandhu, 25, and Cameron Forster, 21, died when their Slingsby Firefly plane crashed into a field near Whitwell-on-the-Hill on April 30 last year.

An Air Accident Investigation Branch report said the plane was engaged in a general handling flight which included aerobatics.

“One witness saw the aircraft carry out a loop and, having passed the apex of the manoeuvre, enter what appeared to be a spin.

“The aircraft did not recover from the spin and struck the surface of a ploughed field, fatally injuring both persons on board.”

It said the the pilot and a friend had flown from Full Sutton airfield in good weather.

Both were students on the Tucano phase in RAF flying training and had flown the Grob Tutor, a light piston-engine aircraft, during initial flying training.

Examination of the aircraft and its systems after the crash found no evidence it had suffered a structural failure or technical malfunction which could have contributed to the accident.

It was possible an incorrect spin recovery technique was used, as the requirement to move the control stick progressively forward was a critical element of the spin recovery action in the Slingsby T67 but not in the Tutor or Tucano aircraft in which the pilot had previously received spin training.

“It is possible that if the pilot initially adopted the technique applicable to those craft, the spin recovery would have been delayed,” it added.