Accident to Tutor G-BYXR

On 14 June 2009, a Grob Tutor T1 (G-BYXR) from No. 6 Air Experience Flight (AEF) was flying out of RAF Benson, Oxfordshire. The pilot, Flt Lt Mike Blee (a 62-year-old retired RAF officer), was conducting an Air Experience Flight for 15-year-old Air Cadet Nicholas Rice. Simultaneously, a Standard Cirrus glider (G-CKHT) was soaring in the same area under civilian operation.

At approximately 12:47 hrs, the two aircraft collided at 2,400 feet near Drayton, Oxfordshire. The Tutor’s propeller and engine struck the fuselage of the glider, causing the glider to break apart in mid-air. The civilian glider pilot was able to successfully bale out and parachuted to safety with minor injuries. However, the Tutor entered an uncontrollable dive and crashed into a field. Neither Flt Lt Blee nor Cadet Rice was able to escape the aircraft.

The Service Inquiry (SI) and the AAIB identified the "Causal Factor" as the failure of the Tutor pilot to see and avoid the glider. Crucially, the investigation found that at the moment of convergence, the glider would have been positioned behind the Tutor's canopy arch, a structural "blind spot" that significantly hampered the pilot's ability to see objects on a specific bearing.

The report also highlighted "Contributory Factors" regarding the Tutor pilot's health and the aircraft's safety equipment. Flt Lt Blee was found to have a chronic back condition that limited his neck mobility, potentially restricting his "scan" of the sky. Furthermore, the inquiry noted that while the Tutor was equipped with parachutes, the complexity of the harness and the violent nature of the post-collision dive made it nearly impossible for a cadet to successfully egress the aircraft. This accident, occurring just months after the St Athan Tutor collision, solidified the RAF’s decision to overhaul the safety systems and visibility protocols for the entire elementary training fleet.