Father in tribute to air crash son

12 April 2012

The youngest victim of the Kent plane crash died just a week after starting a new job in motor-racing.

Christopher Allarton, 25, was killed along with Richard Lloyd, his boss at Apex Motorsport, and three other men when the private jet they were travelling in crashed into a house in Farnborough.

Experts from the US and Canada are travelling to the UK to help the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) comb the scene for clues as to what caused the Cessna Citation I to crash.

Mr Allarton's father, Richard, described his son as the "light of his life", and said he had been delighted to land the job at Apex.

"Chris was just starting out in life. He met a beautiful girl, finished university and got himself a great job. He was really excited about starting at Apex," he said.

"He was just a young lad and over the moon to be involved in something like that."

Police finished removing bodies from the wreckage in Romsey Close on Monday night and residents living closest to the scene, who had been evacuated, were allowed to return to their homes.

No "black box" flight data recorder was fitted to the plane, which was privately registered, and the AAIB's painstaking search is expected to last until Wednesday afternoon.

The jet had taken off from Biggin Hill Airport and was heading to Pau in south-west France. It was only around five miles from the airport when the pilot put out a mayday call and it was about two miles north of the airport when it crashed.

The jet's pilot, Mike Roberts, 63, was hailed a hero for guiding his stricken aircraft away from more houses, and tributes were paid to 63-year-old Mr Lloyd and 54-year-old David Leslie, who were popular figures in the world of motor-racing. The fifth victim was 57-year-old Michael Chapman, the co-pilot.

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