Inquiry hears claims ‘cameraman flew into back of activist’ in fatal crash

The trustee of a charity founded by climate activist Sacha Dench claimed that a cameraman who died following a mid-air collision “didn’t communicate by Bluetooth” and flew into the back of her, an inquiry has heard.

Dan Burton, 54, died after his paramotor was involved in a crash with one flown by colleague Ms Dench, known as “the human swan”, near Loch Na Gainmhich in Sutherland, Highlands, on September 18 2021, during a bid to break a world record and raise awareness of climate change ahead of Cop26.

Ms Dench suffered serious injuries and was taken to hospital in Inverness before being moved to Aberdeen, where she gave an account to a trustee of the charity she founded, Conservation Without Borders, a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) at Tain Sheriff Court heard.

The charity’s trustee Steven Holland gave evidence and said that he signed off a risk assessment which he believed was based on previous expeditions.

He said that “two or three days” before the fatal crash there had been an issue with an electric paramotor, and defended the risk assessment which he said was likely to have been “adapted” from the previous Flight of the Swans expedition, the inquiry heard.

Mr Holland said: “About two or three days before the incident there was a failure of an electric powermotor. The electric powermotor had caused issues from the start, they have a shorter range and have issues with pushing boundaries of technology. It was deemed to be too unreliable.”

He said Mr Burton and Ms Dench had worked together previously and the cameraman “called the shots”, and that the charity’s priority after his death was assisting the two women acting as ground crew as they were “quite young”, the inquiry heard.

Peter Littlefair, representing Mr Burton’s widow Caroline, said that a payment of £800 had been agreed for Mr Burton for the remainder of the expedition, which Mr Holland described as a “gift” during his evidence to the inquiry.

Giving evidence, Mr Holland said Mr Burton “didn’t communicate by Bluetooth, she did not hear his voice at all, I think Bluetooth was live all the time so if someone was in range it would connect”.

He added: “If he was within range and had spoken she would have been able to hear.”

Mr Holland said: “I know it was good enough for normal functional conversations.”

He also told the inquiry that Mr Burton made all the decisions around flying, but described Ms Dench as “operational lead”.

Mr Littlefair said: “Do you think an external reviewer would have been more appropriate?”

Mr Holland said: “How he came to fly into the back of her and didn’t communicate, I’m not sure what a risk assessment could do about that. Sacha was saying she was hit from behind.”

Under questioning from fiscal depute Jemma Eadie, Mr Holland defended the risk assessment.

Ms Eadie said: “Asked if you made independent inquiries, you said you had made an assumption. You read this as a non-pilot, effectively signing the risk assessment off.

“You’re saying ‘on the face of this, this looks reasonable’ without having pilot experience.”

Mr Holland said: “They both had experience flying in the UK and across Europe, I think it’s a safe assumption on what they had done before and since Flight of the Swans.”

Earlier the inquiry heard that Mr Burton had raised concerns about stress before the collision.

Charlotte Harrison-Littlefield, formerly social media manager for Conservation Without Borders, told the inquiry: “There were several occasions where Dan Burton expressed to me and others about frustrations with the working environment and general progress of (the) expedition.

“The expedition was chronically behind in terms of where we should be geographically and how many people we interviewed. The time the expedition was due to take – six weeks – was extended to be a lot more.

“It was quite a stressful working environment, we were asked to get a lot done and didn’t have time.”

During cross-examination by Peter Anderson, representing the insurers of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, the inquiry heard that Mr Burton had been “shaken” by a landing after a flight earlier the same day.

Ms Harrison-Littlefield said: “I remember that the landing from the morning flight was not ideal. I remember that Dan was quite shaken when I collected him, I picked him up in the car.”

She told the inquiry that Ms Dench “had the final say” over decisions around flying.

Giving evidence during cross-examination by Ms Dench’s representative, Simon Richards, she described Ms Dench as a “celebrity” and said that Mr Burton would fly above her, in order to capture her in footage, the inquiry heard.

The inquiry continues in front of Sheriff Neil Wilson.