Fionnuala Ryan died in the Windermere area on Friday, December 13, 2019. Witnesses giving evidence at the hearing painted a picture of a caring, popular and much-loved girl. “She was my only child,” mum Margaret Taylor said. “She was my treasure. “She wasn’t spoilt, but she knew if there was anything she wanted, anything she wanted me to do, I’d move heaven and earth to make it happen.” The opening of the inquest yesterday heard Fionnuala had made a ligature overnight at Windermere School at the beginning of the week in which she died. She confided in a friend who took the matter to staff.
On July 24, they left Barcelonnette-Saint-Pons Airfield in France heading for Italy. The inquest heard that the weather conditions were good and the route had been well planned. But the group took a wrong turn up the Maddalena Pass instead of the Larche Pass and whilst three of them managed to turn round, one had to make a forced landing. The two-seater piloted by Mr Buck, who was a respected pilot but the least experienced of the party particularly over mountainous terrain, then turned back to check on the crashed plane. But the manoeuvre went wrong and the craft stalled and spun into trees.
Pilot with 70 hours flight experience died in French Alps crash while checking on downed plane
Andrew Buck, 37, and Lewis Stubbs, 18, died when their light aircraft crashed in the French Alps in July 2019.
Andrew Buck, 37, died after his light aircraft crashed in the French
Credit: Instagram
A pilot, who had just 70 hours of flying experience, was killed along with his teenage passenger while attempting to check on a fellow downed plane, an inquest heard.
Andrew Buck, 37, and Lewis Stubbs, 18, died when their light aircraft crashed in the French Alps in July 2019.
The pair were part of a group of four planes who were flying from Northumberland to Malta.
North East men killed in plane crash in France were checking up on pilot who made emergency landing
Former Gateshead schoolboy Lewis Stubbs and Seaham pilot Andrew Buck died in the tragic crash in July 2019
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Two North East men killed in a plane crash in the French Alps were checking up on a pilot who had made an emergency landing moments before, an inquest heard.
BBC News
Published
image captionAndrew Buck was inexperienced at flying in mountainous areas, a coroner heard
A pilot and his teenage passenger were killed when they crashed while checking on a downed plane, a coroner has heard.
Their inquest heard they were part of a group of four planes from Eshott in Northumberland which took a wrong turn up a valley on their journey to Malta.
Sunderland assistant coroner Andrew Tweddle said it was a tragedy and concluded both deaths were accidental.
image copyrightFamily handout
image captionLewis Stubbs was a passenger in the two-seater plane
The inquest heard the three single-seater planes and the two-seater piloted by Mr Buck left England on 21 July 2019, travelling in 80-minute legs.