POLICE have confirmed the woman pilot of a light aircraft was killed when it crashed short of the runway at Dunkeswell Airfield on Friday morning (June 26).

The woman, believed to be aged in her 40s, was the only person on board the aeroplane, which is believed to have come down near a Blackdown Hills business park on the opposite side of the road to the airfield.

Emergency services were called to the airfield four miles south of Hemyock shortly after 10 am, including the Devon Air Ambulance, which landed but then left a short time later.

Paramedics attended to the pilot but were unable to save her and she was declared dead at the scene.

Devon and Cornwall Constabulary said the woman’s next of kin had been told of the tragedy.

A police spokesperson said the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) had been notified of the incident.

Supt Jo Arundale said: “We will be working closely with the Air Accident Investigation Branch to thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding the crash this morning.

“We recognise it is a very sad incident and we are appealing to the public not to speculate regarding the crash.

“Furthermore, we would like to ask anybody who may have relevant footage to get in touch with us and not to post it online.

“Our thoughts are with the friends and family of the person involved.”

Supt Arundale said anybody with relevant footage should call 101, or visit the force’s website, quoting log 268 of 26 June.

The incident comes four weeks after a Tiger Moth biplane flipped upside down on landing at Dunkeswell, which is the UK’s highest licensed airfield at 839 feet above sea level.

Both the pilot and passenger of the biplane avoided seriously injury.

The AAIB is continuing to investigate the biplane crash.

This is an updated version of a news article first published on the Wellington Weekly website earlier on Friday.