Colin McRae

has died in a helicopter crash, along with his son, his friend and his friend’s son. Very sad news. :wink:

From The Sunday Times:

September 16, 2007

Rally champion Colin McRae dies with son in helicopter crashTom Gordon

THE former rally driving champion Colin McRae was killed and his five year-old son feared dead in a helicopter crash yesterday afternoon. The aircraft came down in Jerviswood, Lanarkshire, half a mile from the family’s home and burst into flames just after 4pm.

Jean-Eric Freudiger, McRae’s agent, said the 39-year-old driver had been piloting the helicopter himself. Also on board were believed to be his son Johnny, another adult - said by locals to be a school friend of McRae - and another child. McRae’s wife Alison and their daughter Hollie, 9, were not on board, friends said.

Strathclyde police said in a statement: “Four people were onboard the helicopter,” adding “The bodies were found within the helicopter which is owned by Mr Colin McRae of Jerviswood House, Lanark. It is believed he was onboard the helicopter.”

McRae became Britain’s first World Rally champion in 1995. He was one of the country’s most successful sportsmen, achieving 25 wins in World Rally events and 42 podium places. He was a flamboyant driver, inspiring one the world’s best-selling computer rally games.

The helicopter came down within half a mile of McRae’s 16th-century home, which has an adjacent helipad. The weather had been overcast, with southwesterly winds gusting to 30 knots and good visibility.

Officers with dogs and torches continued to comb the woodland near the crash into the night.

McRae’s wife, a childhood sweetheart and his former co-driver, was taken back to the house under police escort shortly after 6pm.

McRae’s friend the rally journalist Jeremy Hart, who flew with him several times, described him as a “very good, very measured pilot”.

“Colin regularly flew all over the UK and into Europe,” said Hart. "He knew the terrain and conditions at Jerviswood very well.

"As a sportsman he was a true hero. As a driver Colin was misunderstood slightly as being reckless but everything you saw with him came from pure raw talent as opposed to being learnt. He was the Michael Schumacher of rally driving.

“It’s so ironic that he should die in a helicopter crash when he had competed and had brushed with death so many times as a rally driver.”

Additional reporting: Paul Lamarra

That is very sad

RIP

Christ I didnt even notice this thread. I only saw it when Shan said it to me in work after I saw the story in the paper and was in total shock. Thats awful stuff altogether.

Im sure Bandage will be first with the jokes :wink:

If they clamped the helicoptor this would never have happened. When your walking home tonight Flango think about that!!

I heard everyone’s rallying around his wife at this terrible time.

FORMER WORLD RALLY champion Colin McRae died alongside three others, including two young children, one of whom was his son, in a helicopter crash in Lanarkshire four years ago.[font=inherit][size=4]
Today, the Scottish judicary published the results of its investigation into the accident, including the provocative conclusion that it was McCrae himself, the pilot of the vehicle, who was to blame for the tragedy.[/size][/font]
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According to the Guardian’s Severin Carrell, the inquiry determined McRae to have been both flying the aircraft without the requisite authorisation and engaging in severe low-level manoeuvres in the moments prior to the accident.
“He undertook significant manoeuvring at low level and the helicopter seems to have encountered significant g-loading as a result, to the evident enjoyment of his passengers.”
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