Jeremy Clarkson almost faced disaster as planes came within 100 feet of crashing over farm
It has been revealed Jeremy Clarkson was very close to suffering a major accident occurring over Diddly Squat Farm, after two aircraft came within 100 feet of crashing mid-air over his land in Chipping Norton.
Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, 62, has been very vocal about his distaste for light aircraft flying over Diddly Squat Farm.
However, a new report has now revealed that the farmer narrowly avoided a major accident occurring in the skies above his land in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, on August 4 2022 at 2.55pm.The two light aircraft were manoeuvring around 3000ft above the eastern edge of Diddly Squat, where his hit Amazon Prime Video show Clarkson’s Farm has been filmed.
One of the pilots claimed to investigators at the UK Airprox Board that he believed the person flying the other aircraft “was looking to manoeuvre over a noteworthy property” when the near-miss incident occurred.The pilot recalled that he was flying a single engined DA40 Diamond Star aeroplane northbound towards Chipping Norton at the time.
He then spotted a twin engined DA42 Diamond Twin Star make a “hard, steep left turn, turning straight for them”.
Radar data has since confirmed just how close the planes were to colliding.
Data shows the two aircraft were separated by only 100 feet vertically and around 300 yards horizontally at their closest point.
Details of the incident have now been published following an investigation by the UK Airprox Board.
The single engine pilot claimed he was flying northbound and had passed the Cotswold town of Charlbury when he noticed the other aircraft flying approximately three miles away.
They then remembered seeing the twin engined aircraft make a turn, heading straight towards them.
The plane then quickly descended and turned right to pass underneath around 800 yards east of Jeremy’s famous farm.
The Airprox report states “the DA40 pilot opined that the DA42 pilot was looking to manoeuvre over [a noteworthy property]” as it approached the eastern boundary of Diddly Squat Farm.The twin engine aircraft pilot has since reported that he was carrying out a test on a commercial pilot licence student and were unaware they had come so close to another aircraft at the time.
The UK Airprox Board concluded that “safety had been degraded” but added that there had been “no risk of collision” as air traffic control recordings showed the pilots were able to see each other and were therefore able to manoeuvre away sufficiently to avoid a major incident.
It comes after Jeremy was outspoken about his views concerning planes flying over his farm routinely.
In the second series of his farming docuseries, The Grand Tour host joked about setting up “a surface to air missile battery” on his land due to the increasing number of light aircraft passing overhead.
