Near miss as plane coming in to land grazes top of lorry on road near Buckingham

A lorry driver had a narrow escape, when a low-flying aircraft grazed the roof on its approach to Finmere Aerodrome, near Buckingham.

The 63-year-old pilot was approaching Finmere at 10:06 on August 24 2022, having flown with a passenger from Elstree.

As he flew over the road on the approach to the runway, the pilot heard a ‘bang’ and his passenger saw an articulated lorry pass underneath them.

The lorry driver later provided photographs of tyre marks on the top of the vehicle. Nobody was hurt in the incident.

Suspecting that the right main landing gear may have touched the top of the lorry, the pilot opted to go around, to assess if the aircraft had sustained any damage.

After making an emergency call, he decided to return to Elstree, where he got confirmation that there was no visible damage to the landing gear, and landed safely.

A report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) concluded: “The aircraft approached the aerodrome over a road lower than necessary to maintain a safe distance from traffic using the road, resulting in the right aircraft wheel contacting the top of an articulated vehicle as it passed beneath the aircraft.”

The pilot, who had 545 hours flying time under his belt, said he was was familiar with Finmere and knew about the road passing perpendicular and close to the end of the runway.

The owner of the aerodrome said pilots on a “normal approach path” to Runway 28 should have sufficient height to pass over any vehicles using the road and there have been no previous incidents or near misses reported.

But she said that, in future, she would inform pilots unfamiliar with the aerodrome about the high volume of articulated vehicles on the road.

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