A CORONER is to make safety recommendations after two “highly talented” trainee pilots died when the plane they were flying went into a spin and crashed near Castle Howard.

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

The family of Mr Sandhu, 25, protested during the inquest 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.

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 Mr Forster, both trainee pilots at RAF Linton on Ouse, where they flew Tucano planes. They had chartered the Firefly privately from Full Sutton airfield near York.

Both died instantly as they grappled with the controls to try and pull out of the spin. They had been practising aeronautical manoeuvres at 4,500 feet.

The inquest had been told Mr Sandhu, who had a pilot's licence with an aeronautical rating, had previously hired the Slingsby Firefly at Full Sutton and had undergone spin training at Linton on Ouse. Mr Forster 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 control column.

Paul Hannant, of the Air Accident Investigation Branch, 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 Forster 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 requesting consideration of spin recovery training in specific types of aircraft. Sitting at Northallerton Coroner's Court, he recorded a verdict of accidental death for both men.