A CORONER is making safety recommendations after two “highly talented” trainee pilots died when the plane they were flying crashed after going into a spin.

The family of one of the men, Ajvir Singh Sandhu, 25, protested during the inquest, held in Northallerton, that the privately chartered plane they were flying, the Slingsby Firefly was known as “ a flying coffin and a “widow maker” with 48 deaths since 2009.

But North Yorkshire coroner Michael Oakley said it was “dangerous to make generalisations about particular planes”.

He was told the plane was in “good working order” and there was no suggestion of mechanical problems.

Mr Sandhu was flying with Cameron Foster, both were trainee pilots at RAF Linton on Ouse, where they flew Tucano planes, but had chartered the Firefly privately from Full Sutton airfield near York.

Both died instantly as they grappled with the controls to try to pull out of the spin, after they practised aeronautical manoeuvres at 4,500 feet.

The inquest had been told Mr Sandhu had a pilots licence with an aeronautical rating, had previously hired the Slingsby at Full Sutton and had undergone spin training at Linton on Ouse. Mr Foster was less experienced, and the coroner was told it was not possible to say who had been flying the plane at the time of the crash as both men had their hands on the controls.

Paul Hannant of the Air Accident Investigation Branch who had been called to the crash in a field at Whitwell on the Hill near Castle Howard said there was possibly a “lesson to be learned” over pilots having a static line parachute to escape if they could not get out of a spin.

“We believe the aircraft entered into a spin, the recovery from that should have left enough height to recover but that didn’t happen. They ran out of height, although it was starting to be completed.”

He said there were differences between actions to get out of a spin in a Tucano compared with a Firefly.

A pathologist found the cause of death of Mr Sandhu was head injuries and Mr Foster multiple injuries, both were dead when witnesses who saw the crash reached the plane.

Mr Oakley said:”Obviously they were endeavouring to get the aircraft under control but it didn’t have enough air to do so.

“There was no mechanical explanation for this, it can only have been what must be termed pilot error.”

But he said he would be making recommendations to the Civil Aviation Authority asking for a review of information about static line parachutes for private planes and to the aviation safety agency asking for consideration of spin recovery training in specific types of aircraft .

Mr Cameron’s mother Amanda Jayne said she hoped lessons would be learned.