A PILOT died when his light aircraft plunged to earth minutes after a radio warning that a door was open on his plane, an inquest heard yesterday.
Retired company boss Brian McClelland had taken off from Sherburn Aero Club, near Selby, North Yorkshire, in his Tobago TB10 aircraft.
Club members spotted the open luggage compartment door and told Mr McClelland by radio.
Witnesses told coroner John Sleightholme at a hearing in Harrogate how the 69-year-old pilot had responded calmly and was returning to the airfield to close the door.
Minutes later, the plane crashed and exploded in flames.
A jury returned an accidental death verdict on Mr McClelland, of Honley, near Huddersfield.
Ian Roe, co-pilot of a plane which had just landed, said he got the impression the manoeuvre Mr McClelland attempted was doomed from the start.
He said: "The pilot never did anything right, and I feared that unless he corrected his position he would crash if he attempted to land."
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