Date:	Wednesday 26 October 1983
Time:	12:23 UTC
Type:	Ultrasport Puma
Owner/operator:	Private
Registration:	G-MMEO
MSN:	135
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	Leigh Park Farm, Sevenoaks, Kent -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Leigh Park Farm, Sevenoaks, Kent
Destination airport:	Leigh Park Farm, Sevenoaks, Kent
Investigating agency:	AIB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
Ultrasport Puma** G-MMEO: On the afternoon of 26 October 1983 the pilot (who I suspect to have been Graham Borrell of Chipstead, Surrey) of newly acquired Ultrasports Puma G-MMEO took off from Leigh Park Farm, Sevenoaks. The Puma is a weight shift tricycle microlight. The pilot's previous microlight experience had been flying his American Aerolights Eagle. It differed from the Puma in being, despite being weight shift, a canard monoplane with a braced wing. However the pilot had, by way of familiarisation with weight shift tricycle microlights, undergone dual training on a similar two seat machine. His instructor evidently was satisfied as to his ability to fly the Puma and, the machine not having been hitherto flown, the instructor test flew it, after it had been erected at Leigh Park Farm, satisfying himself that it was airworthy. Its owner then undertook a period of ground familiiarisation with the Puma and at a little after midday he took off.

The instructor, who was watching the flight from the ground, said that the Puma climbed in an unstable manner, which he attributed to excessive control by the pilot, until it reached about 1000 feet. The pilot then levelled out and smoothly flew a broad circuit at that height, after which the Puma went into a tight spiral descent, making six or eight 360º turns, before crashing into the ground. The pilot survived the impact and when rescuers arrived at the scene of the crash, he spoke incoherently about having cramp. An ambulance was called and soon arrived, taking the pilot to hospital where, some four hours later, he died from his accident injuries.

A subsequent inspection of the wreckage of the Puma revealed no pre-impact damage or defects. The engine was removed from the airframe and successfully bench run. Thus it seems inevitable that the cause of the accident was pilot error (or, perhaps, incapacity). A witness said that the pilot was prone to suffer cramp but there was no evidence that he did so in the course of the flight or that this caused or contributed to the Puma going into the spiral descent or the crash.

According to the AIB report, the Puma was damaged beyond repair as a result of the crash. Indeed, its registration was cancelled by the CAA on 29 February 1984 as 'destroyed'. However, neither seems to have been the case. Evidently it was rebuilt (as an Ultrasports Tripacer) and restored to airworthiness - because it suffered a second, serious but not fatal, crash near Tonbridge eleven months later. After that it seems again to have been rebuilt again, its third emanation being as a Southdown Sailwings Lightning in 1992, before its registration was finally cancelled by the CAA in 2000.

**NOTE: The AAIB report states that the aircraft was an "Ultrasport Puma". However, the CAA registration document calls the SAME aircraft a "Southern Sailwings Lightning Phase II Tri-Pacer".

1. AAIB: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422f0ffe5274a1314000337/Ultrasport_Puma_G-MMEO_13-83.pdf
2. CAA: https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-MMEO.pdf
3. Sevenoaks Chronicle - Friday 25 November 1983
4. Sevenoaks Chronicle - Friday 28 October 1983
5. Belfast Telegraph - Thursday 27 October 1983
6. Newcastle Evening Chronicle - Thursday 27 October 1983
7. https://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=18701.0
8. http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/G-MMEO.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
19-Jun-2014 18:21	Dr. John Smith	Added
06-Mar-2017 18:11	TB	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Narrative]
17-Aug-2022 20:27	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative, Category]
18-Sep-2022 22:18	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]