A UK Civil Aviation Authority investigation into a near-disaster at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome’s Cold War Jets Day has concluded without any legal action, according to a report in Wednesday’s Daily Mail. Disaster was narrowly averted in May when a Handley Page Victor bomber accidentally took off.
A crew of two men unlicensed as pilots were meant only to taxi down the runway for a photo shoot. The man in the captain’s seat, Bob Prothero, a 70-year-old retired RAF pilot, managed to set the bird down safely after his “co-pilot,” the plane’s maintainer who had no flying experience, set the throttles to full takeoff power.
UPDATE: Here is a second view of the shocking takeoff, taken from across the runway…
