A BLANDFORD man killed when his gyrocopter dropped out of the sky died as the result of a tragic accident, a coroner has ruled.

Brian Errington-Weddle, 57, suffered multiple injuries after his gyrocopter crashed in a field near the North Dorset village of Kington Magna on October 15 2008.

The retired army major had been flying back to nearby Henstridge airfield from Little Rissington in Gloucester when his machine developed mechanical problems.

Eye-witness, Leonard Roberts, told an inquest at County Hall, Dorchester that he had heard the sound of an engine misfiring before watching Mr Errington-Weddle’s machine drop from the sky. “There was a ‘pop’ – something akin to a backfire. I was looking up at it. I couldn’t see the blades because I was almost underneath it. It just literally fell out of the sky,” said Mr Roberts. Fellow pilot Paul Robichaud had flown behind Mr Errington-Weddle in an identical gyrocopter, but lost sight of his companion’s stricken machine as it hit trouble.

“I moved left and right continually looking for him. I checked my instruments. I was looking out of my door on the left.

“I saw what at first I thought was debris flying through the sky. I thought I knew what it was, but didn’t want to accept it,” said Mr Robichaud.

The inquest heard evidence from two senior inspectors from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch. Anne Evans said a control to regulate the temperature of the carburettor was in the “hot” position.

She said that while pilots used the control to prevent icing in the carburretor, the hot position was also consistent with routine preparations for landing.

Senior inspector Andrew Blackie told the inquest that “pitch instability” of the rotor blades had caused them to strike the tail fin and rudder, causing the collision.

But he was unable to say what had caused the instability in the pitch of the blades.

Coroner Michael Johnson ruled that Mr Errington-Weddle had died as the result of an accident and praised those who had rushed to his aid.