Amateur stunt pilot sues for £2m after crash ’caused by dodgy nut’

An amateur stunt pilot who nose-dived into a runway is suing flight overseers for £2million after blaming a ‘dodgy nut’ for the crash. 

Builder Trevor Davis, 64, was left with brain damage and a cracked skull as well as several other injuries when he crashed just 15 minutes after take-off at Popham Airfield in Hampshire in March 2022.

Mr Davis claims a mechanical issue caused by a loose or missing nut left him unable to steer his biplane properly.

He is now suing the Light Aircraft ᴀssociation (LAA) – a body that oversees airworthiness for thousands of planes – for £2million compensation.

While Mr Davis says that the Pitts Special biplane he was flying should never have been authorised as safe to fly by the LAA, the organisation’s lawyers deny the vital nut could have been loose or missing during their inspection.

Instead, they criticised Mr Davis’ piloting skills and blamed him for the accident.

In documents filed with London’s High Court, the builder’s lawyers explain that Mr Davis’ Pitts Special biplane – a legendary aerobatic aircraft first designed in the 1940s – had been fundamentally ‘rebuilt’ for him shortly before the crash.

Mr Davis claims that a crucial nut connected to the tail elevator – which plays a key part in guiding the plane’s nose up or down – was either missing or inadequately secured after the build was complete.

The aircraft was inspected and signed off as safe to fly by an LAA inspector before he took to the skies, but after 15 minutes of flying Mr Davis says he found himself unable to control the elevator with his joystick.

Trevor Davis, 64, was left with brain damage and a fractured skull, alongside smashed teeth and injuries to his neck, arm and shoulder after the crash

He is suing the LAA for £2million after he claimed their inspection failed to flag a vital nut that he believes was missing or came loose, causing him difficulties steering the plane

He now blames the elevator rod having come loose due to the dodgy nut.

The 1966-made stunt plane was bought in 2011 by Mr Davis, who in 2018 commissioned an engineer to ‘rebuild and modify’ it in a three-year project, including stripping the original wings, disconnecting all flight control mechanisms and overhauling the fuselage.

He now claims expert evidence demonstrates that the connection between the tail elevator and the pilot’s joystick failed due to a nut from the elevator being loose or absent.

The LAA failed to raise a ‘red flag’ over the plane’s fitness to fly, his lawyers say.

But lawyers for the LAA insist that there were no obvious shortcomings in the work carried out on the plane by the project engineer – or the report he submitted to the LAA.

The LAA insists that one of the team of engineers who rebuilt and checked over the Pitts Special ‘would have detected the absence of the nut/split pin had it been absent during the inspection’.

It added: ‘It is further averred that the nut and split pin were indeed in position at that time of the inspections.’

The LAA also claims Mr Davis was partly to blame for the crash because of how he handled his stunt plane as he came in to land.

Their lawyers state in the defence to the action that Mr Davis could have countered the nose dropping and prevented the nose-dive crash by increasing throttle to ‘give a burst of engine power’.

‘He could also have chosen a far less challenging airfield to land at in the vicinity, for example, Thruxton,’ argued defence barrister Christopher Loxton.

For his part, Mr Davis says he fought desperately to regain control using aircraft instruments such as the rudder and wing ailerons as he came in to land, but ‘despite his best efforts’ the stunt plane ended up nose-planting into the runway before flipping over.

In the impact, he struck his head on the cockpit rim, resulting in brain damage and a fractured skull, alongside smashed teeth and injuries to his neck, arm and shoulder.

Mr Davis’ KC, Patrick Vincent, says that ‘he continues to suffer from headaches and cognitive and behavioural problems’ as a result of the head injury.

‘He continues to suffer from right upper limb symptoms as a result of nerve damage – for which he requires surgery,’ he said. 

‘As a result of the accident, Mr Davis has been unable to continue his work as a self-employed builder.’

Mr Davis’ case recently reached London’s High Court for a brief pre-trial hearing during which lawyers hammered out issues relating to the shape of the evidence and costs budgets.

It will return at a later date unless settled out of court.

The Pitts Special is a ‘legendary’ bi-wing stunt plane, which dominated stunt flying after its introduction in the United States in the 1960s.

It is renowned for its excellent manoeuvrability, although has a reputation for being tricky to land.