Wycombe Air Park helicopter destroyed in fire after cable fault

The Guimbal Cabri G2, G-CILR was destroyed by the fire

A helicopter was destroyed by fire after an electrical cable short-circuited, an investigation has found.

The pilot noticed flames coming from the Guimbal Cabri G2 after it landed at Wycombe Air Park at 17:30 BST on 22 July 2019.

The helicopter had been flown to the airfield, near Marlow, Buckinghamshire, from Dunkeswell, in Devon.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said the problem was "probably" caused by incorrectly fitted cable clips.

The report said the 21-year-old pilot, who was the only person on board, had noticed nothing unusual during the flight but saw smoke rising from the left side of the rotor mast when he was shutting the helicopter down.

When he got out he saw flames and tried unsuccessfully to put the fire out with the on-board fire extinguisher.

The fire service arrived about 10 minutes later and extinguished the blaze but by this time the helicopter had been destroyed. There were no injuries.