A MAN picked up his four-year-old daughter to carry her on his
shoulders and lifted her into the still-revolving blades of his
helicopter, an inquest heard yesterday.
Businessman Nicholas Hawkings-Byass told the inquest into the girl's
death that the tragedy happened minutes after he landed the two-seater
helicopter at his family's weekend home in the Cotswolds.
Bristol coroner Paul Forrest recorded a verdict of accidental death on
the girl, Lydia. She died of head injuries.
Mr Hawkings-Byass, who was not at the hearing, said in a statement
read to the inquest that he landed and switched off the engine.
He went through the routine procedures for closing down the engine,
and as he collected his briefcase and business papers his daughter, who
had already been on a short flight with him, approached him and asked
him to carry her.
Mr Hawkings-Byass, 41, of Tregunter Road, Chelsea, west London, said
in his statement: ''I put my briefcase down to pick her up with both
hands to put her on my shoulders.
''What happened next is not totally clear. I am not sure if I got her
on to my shoulders. She then fell forwards on to the ground and, as she
lay there, the colour drained from her cheeks.
''I did not feel any impact, although I realised something awful had
happened.
''I was facing away from the helicopter. I was not aware of the rotors
revolving. There was no wind noise.''
He and Lydia were facing away from the helicopter, and were about six
feet from the fuselage.
He called to his wife, Clare, for help, and together they drove Lydia
to hospital at Bourton-on-the-Water. She was later transferred to
hospital in Cheltenham, where she died three days later on July 2.
No members of Mr Hawkings-Byass's family were at the hearing, which
consisted largely of witness statements read by a coroner's officer.
Mr Hawkings-Byass, managing director of NBH Ltd, an agriculture
aviation firm based in London, said in his statement that he had been a
qualified helicoptor pilot for seven years.
He had flown to his Cotswold home from Luton Airport.
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