A POOLE hospital consultant who was killed in an air crash with his friend last year may have died a hero.

Shorland Hosking was returning from a safety day in Duxford, Cambridgeshire, on April 17, 2010 with fellow flying enthusiast and friend Richard Wheeler, when his light aircraft spun into the ground and burst into flames near the Hampshire village of Weyhill.

A newly published report into the crash by the Air Accident Investigation Branch implies Mr Hosking, 55, may have turned away from his safe landing place at Thruxton after seeing a major motoring event taking place below, diverting the plane to avoid increasing the risk to those on the ground.

The AAIB’s report said the two-seater aircraft – registration G-TOOT – was returning to a private airstrip at Bournemouth when the cockpit started to fill with smoke just before 4.20pm.

After making a Mayday call, Mr Hosking initially diverted to Thruxton, however, two minutes later the two-seater aircraft crashed about two miles east of its destination, fatally injuring both men.

The report said: “Evidence indicated that there had not been an engine compartment fire as the source of the smoke, leading to the probability that the smoke was generated by an electrical fault within the cockpit. A large and sustained post-crash fire destroyed any evidence that would have allowed a specific component to be identified as the source of the smoke.”

The report also suggests that another reason Mr Hosking may have turned away from the busy airfield was that he had become disorientated in the cockpit.

However, the report said that both Mr Hosking’s calls were calm, although the second did identify a deteriorating cockpit situation.

The consultant had worked at Poole hospital for 16 years and specialised in gastrointestinal surgery. He left a widow, Helen, and a grown-up son and daughter.

Mr Wheeler, 50, was managing director of Space Industries, based the old Hurn Chapel on Avon Causeway. He left a widow, Pauline, two grown-up sons, and a daughter.