British inventor dies in crash on test flight of his flying taxi

A British pilot who created a "flying taxi" for commuters was killed when his prototype plane crashed on a test flight in Malaysia.

Michael Dacre's Jetpod plane crashed during take-off on the test flight at Tekhah airstrip in Taiping.

Disaster struck when the eight-seater plane took to the air 150 miles north of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. It had reached 650 feet when it suddenly plunged to the ground, emergency services said.

Witnesses told how the aircraft plummeted to earth and and erupted in a ball of fire, killing Mr Dacre, 53.

Retired soldier Halim Hamid, 50, who lives near the airstrip, said: "I had seen it earlier going down the runway three times, but it couldn't take off. Then on the fourth run it took off into the air but at about 200 metres high, it shot vertically to the sky before veering to its left and then falling to the ground."

Fire crews managed to put the blaze out, but Mr Dacre is believed to have died in the impact. Police and fire officials pulled his burning body from the wreckage, witnesses said.

Locals said they had learned that a co-pilot had wanted to accompany Mr Dacre, but he had decided to make the test flight alone.

The inventor had hoped his aircraft would allow quick, quiet and cheap travel to and from cities - with fares for a flight from Heathrow to central London costing as little as £40. The plane was being developed to take off and land over short distances and cruise at low levels at speeds of 310mph.

It was hoped that the craft would need only about 400 feet to take off or land, allowing runways to be constructed near the centre of cities, and would be quiet enough to not be noticeable above city traffic. The invention was developed by Mr Dacre with his London-based company, Avcen.

"He was a typical aviation entrepreneur. He was very keen on his project - he saw a market for it," Professor Jupp said.

"He was very prepared to take on expert opinion, not dogmatic at all, and he was very enthusiastic, driving the project on personally."

He added: "I thought his idea was very interesting, with some novel features such as the aerodynamic changes to make the aircraft better for take-off and landing. It could have been a useful addition to the aviation scene."

Mohd Sobri Abdullah, Taiping fire and rescue senior operations officer, said that rescue personnel had been stationed at the airstrip at the request of the company before the crash.

The Department of Civil Aviation is investigating the cause of the crash.