Date:	Saturday 25 March 1972
Time:	17:30 UTC
Type:	Jodel DR.1050 Ambassadeur
Owner/operator:	Trustees of the Zeta Group
Registration:	G-AYEA
MSN:	369
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	Bristol Channel, Bridgwater Bay, Somerset -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Winkleigh, Devon
Destination airport:	Elstree, Hertfordshire (EGTR)
Investigating agency:	AIB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
Jodel DR.1050 G-AYEA: Ex-BKHG, first registered in the UK 21/5/1970. Written off (destroyed) 25/3/1972 when crashed into Bridgwater Bay, off the coast of Somerset. All four persons on board (pilot and three passengers) were killed. According to the following extract from the official AAIB report into the accident:

"The aircraft was on a private flight from Winkleigh, Devon, to Elstree, Hertfordshire. About ten minutes after departure the aircraft encountered low cloud and diverted to the north of the intended tack. Cloud base at the time of departure was between 700 and 1,000 feet, meaning that the high ground over Exmoor was shrouded in low cloud, and not safe to fly through in VFR.

A direct course to Elstree would have taken the aircraft close to Wells, Somerset, but, except for one reported sighting of the aircraft flying northwards over Exmoor, following the River Haddeo valley, about 2 miles east of Dulverton, Somerset, the aircraft disappeared over Bridgwater Bay, between Minehead and Watchet, Somerset. It was not seen again until two days later (27/3/1972) when wreckage, including the port wing, was washed ashore at Berrow Beach, north of Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset. The bodies of three of the four persons on board were also washed ashore at various locations on the Somerset coast, during the following few days.

The AAIB report concluded that there was insufficient evidence to establish as to why the aircraft struck the water, but adverse weather conditions would have presented the pilot with difficulties, which were the main causes of the accident".

The sole fatality named in the AAIB report was the pilot Mr. Christopher Hirst Roberts (aged 32). The other three persons on board were not named, but all three of them were children under the age of 16. However, another source (see link #1) lists the three passenger fatalities as Crispin Roberts (aged 4), Leon Roberts (aged 6), and Justin Roberts (aged 8). All three were the young sons of the pilot.

The bodies of the pilot and one of the three child passengers was washed ashore, still wearing a partially inflated life jacket, at Brean Down (on 27/3/1972), and another at Lilstock (on 30/3/1972). One of the bodies of the three children on board was never found nor recovered. The registration G-AYEA was cancelled by the CAA on 11/12/1972 as "P.W.F.U." ("Permanently Withdrawn From Use")

1. Wings Over Somerset: Aircraft Crashes since the End of World War II By Peter Forrester
2. Weston-Super-Mare and the Aeroplane By Roger Dudley, Ted Johnson
3. AAIB Final Report: https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/media/5422f55940f0b613420004f9/5-1973_G-AYEA.pdf
4. AAIB Final Report Appendix: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422f559ed915d137400054b/5-1973_G-AYEA_Append.pdf
5. CAA: https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AYEA.pdf
6. http://www.avions-jodel.de/Privat/Jodel/jodel_dr100_series_list.html
7. G-AYEA at Elstree (EGTR) 18/7/1971: https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1330674

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
01-Aug-2015 22:01	Dr. John Smith	Added
18-Oct-2015 23:40	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
19-Oct-2015 13:58	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
04-Oct-2020 21:45	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Source, Narrative, Accident report]
04-Oct-2020 21:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative, Accident report]