Pilot in microlight convoy crashes in France

A ROUND-the-world attempt by two microlight pilots was marred by a serious accident yesterday when a colleague travelling in convoy was hurt in a crash.

Phil Good was preparing to fly back to Britain from Le Touquet on the French coast when his microlight crashed. He had flown across the English Channel with 33 other microlights accompanying Brian Milton and Keith Reynolds in GT Global Flyer which had set off earlier yesterday on the first leg of their journey from Brooklands Museum near Weybridge, Surrey, in an attempt to recreate the epic journey made by Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days.

Simon Newlyn, publicity director for GT Global Flyer, said: "The tragic accident happened at about 12.30pm GMT when Mr Good was starting his aircraft to return to England when it appeared to reach full revs and run out of control. The microlight hit

another aircraft on the tarmac and crashed into an airport building."

One eyewitness at the airport said the microlight crashed through the windows of the passport-control building. Mr Good was taken to hospital after being treated for injuries on the airfield.