What happened
A private flight departed Elstree at 14:37 hours, heading toward Shobdon in Herefordshire. While weather conditions at the time of departure featured visibility exceeding 10 km, conditions had deteriorated by the time the aircraft reached Shobdon. At the destination, visibility had dropped to between 3 and 4 km due to light drizzle, with a cloud base of roughly 1,200 feet.
At approximately 15:02, the pilot established radio contact with the Shobdon ground-to-air facility to announce the inbound flight. After receiving airfield information, the pilot communicated again while approaching Leominster and later reported being on the downwind leg for Runway 09. An observer at the airfield noted the aircraft flying at a standard circuit height on the downwind leg. Shortly after, a brief, unintelligible radio transmission, described by observers as sounding like a scream, was heard by both the radio operator and a local radio enthusiast.
Radar data from Clee Hill, Shropshire, tracked the aircraft joining the downwind leg from the east at an altitude of 1,100 feet. The data revealed that near the end of the downwind leg, the aircraft experienced a 20-degree leftward track deviation and began a steady descent of approximately 350 feet per minute. During this descent, the ground speed decreased from 112 kt to 100 kt, until the aircraft disappeared from radar at 600 feet.
Two witnesses observed the aircraft near the base leg. One witness reported seeing the aircraft at an altitude of 150 to 200 feet, noting a loud engine backfire accompanied by white smoke and a subsequent increase in engine RPM. The second witness observed the aircraft flying extremely low, between 50 and 100 feet, noting that the wings were wavering. The aircraft's left wing then dropped into a 90-degree bank, causing the nose to drop behind a line of trees, where the impact was heard. Local farmers reached the site and extinguished a small fire that had started near the right wing.
Findings
Witness accounts suggest the aircraft experienced an engine backfire and subsequent instability, including a sudden wing drop and loss of altitude, prior to impacting the ground.