SYNOPSIS
EI-BLB departed Sligo Airport on the afternoon of Sunday 1st. June 1997, having taken part in a fly-in at Sligo Airport on the previous day. On board were the pilot and a passenger. In the company of some other aircraft it landed at a private field which was owned by the passenger and which was intended for use as a future private airfield. As far as can be established four other aircraft landed at this field at Meera, Carrick-on-Shannon, with EI-BLB.
All the aircraft took off to over fly the town of Carrick-on-Shannon as part of a festival organised by the Chamber of Commerce.
EI-BLB again had the pilot and passenger on board and carried out some aerobatics near Carrick-on-Shannon, returned and landed at the private field at Meera. After a late lunch in an hotel in Carrick-on-Shannon, EI-BLB departed this time with the pilot solo to return from Meera to Abbeyshrule Airfield.
EI-BLB followed the line of the Shannon River from Carrick-on-Shannon Southwards. EI-BLB was seen by several eye-witnesses flying at very low level following the line feature of the Jamestown Canal.
As the aircraft approached the Albert Lock on the Jamestown Canal it struck power lines which stretched across the Canal. EI-BLB was seen to bank to the left and dive steeply into a small field where it came to rest with the engine and fuselage separated. The pilot was fatally injured.
