The opening of an inquest hearing into the death of a former RAF serviceman who died at a Norfolk airfield at the weekend has revealed he died after colliding with the propeller of a plane.
Alistair Mathie, of Brook Farm, Burgate, near Diss, died aged 67 at the private Priory Farm air strip, at Tibenham, near Long Stratton, last Saturday afternoon.
Norfolk coroner, William Armstrong, opened the inquest into Mr Mathie's death in Norwich today, before adjourning the hearing for further investigations to take place.
It was said that Mr Mathie was born in India in May 1944 and was a retired airline pilot.
Mr Armstrong said: 'At around 3pm last Saturday Mr Mathie had just completed a dual flight in an aircraft with another man and collided with the propeller of the plane.
'Upon completion of the flight Mr Mathie exited to the right of the plane and then made contact with the aircraft's propeller, which caused an immediate fatal injury.'
Mr Armstrong added that a postmortem examination had determined Mr Mathie's death as being caused by 'severe head injury'.
The make of the plane was confirmed as a privately-owned Piper J3C-65 Cub.
The inquest was then adjourned for further investigations, including from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch.
david.freezer@archant.co.uk
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