Light plane passenger plunges to death
A man has plunged thousands of feet to his death after falling from a light aeroplane in Oxfordshire.
The victim, believed to be in his 40s, was a passenger in a privately-owned plane flying over Oxfordshire when the accident occurred.
The man, who has no yet been formally identified, fell to his death into fields over Fifield in the west of the county.
Police sealed off the area around the body an hour later and impounded the aircraft which the distraught pilot had landed at nearby RAF Brize Norton, Oxon.
Ministry of Defence Police, Thames Valley Police and the Civil Aviation Authority have launched an investigation.
Supt Liam Macdougall, of Thames Valley Police, said this evening: "The report came to us from air traffic control, who reported that a passenger left an aircraft without a parachute.
"The force helicopter was involved in the search, along with patrol cars and a body has been recovered. The circumstances surrounding this are unclear and there is a full-scale investigation underway."
The identity of the pilot has not been revealed and police were unable to say where the aircraft took off from or its intended destination.
