Sad accident.

If you've ever heard of the radio navigation aids LORAN and/or eLORAN, then you may have heard of Professor David Last, who was heavily involved in these systems' development.

Sadly, news arrived yesterday afternoon that a Cessna-172SP aircraft had ditched into the sea off the coast of Anglesey, during calm, fairly clear weather.
 

Professor David Last.

This afternoon, it was confirmed the pilot, lost and presumed dead, was David.  The flight recordings from his transponder showed he was in straight and level flight, when the plane suddenly entered a modest but sustained descent into the sea, hitting the surface at 134 knots.

David seems to have started suffering a heart attack or stroke just after 11:34UT whem the airspeed begins to vary before a descent, with increasing airspeed, into the sea (top right on map).

There was no indication at all that 79-year old David, an extremely experienced and instrument-rated pilot, tried to glide the aircraft towards land as would happen following an engine problem, presumably because he suffered a heart attack or stroke.

I last saw David at my father-in-law's funeral in the spring, which makes 2019 a rather more horrible year than one would wish for.

The services continue to look for the aircraft and David's body, with only small aircraft debris having been recovered thus far.