Archive

Charles and Camilla in Helicopter Scare

Investigation

We've often wondered about the advisability of the Royal family constantly flying around the country in helicopters (they are all devoted fans and the Queen has been known to joke to friends that the chopper has changed her life more than it ever changed Anne Boleyn's) and now an aviation authority report has been published into a helicopter scare that forced Charles and Camilla to make an emergency landing.

The incident happened in May last year as Charles and Camilla were on their way to the Hay-on-Wye Festival in Wales, but the details have only recently been published.

The Sikorsky S-76C helicopter was carrying the royal pair and four other passengers when it began to veer - or yaw - to the right as it approached Denham aerodrome in Buckinghamshire in May last year, a report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.

The AAIB report said: "The crew performed an uneventful running landing and ground-taxied to dispersal with the yaw control abnormality still apparent.

"The aircraft was shut down and the crew and passengers vacated the aircraft."

The royal couple travelled on to Hay by car, arriving around three hours behind schedule