A PILOT who was killed when his plane crashed at Redhill Aerodrome had only held his licence for a few months.
David Marjason died when his microlight crashed into the turf shortly after take-off last Wednesday.
Mr Marjason, a chartered surveyor from Oxted, was one of four recreational flyers who owned the 21-year-old Rans S-6 microlight as part of a syndicate. It is understood he had been flying the plane for less than four months.
The aircraft's co-owner Keith Diamond said: "He only joined our group earlier this year.
"He was a very organised person and he took over the role of secretary of the club, which he was very good at.
"I have known him for about a year. I have been flying with him and, apart from the experience side of it, he was quite a capable pilot."
Mr Marjason was circuit flying, in which a pilot practices manoeuvres by repeatedly landing and taking off again, when he crashed at 12.18pm.
Eyewitnesses have told the Mirror the engine appeared to be "spluttering", and that Mr Marjason may have tried to turn the aircraft shortly before it fell to earth.
Mr Diamond, a pilot for 30 years, said the plane had a good safety record.
He said: "During your training it is drummed into you that you never turn back.
"I have one or two ideas about what could have gone wrong. One is that he tried to turn back.
"If you get engine failure you are trained to deal with that situation. I am just wondering whether he forgot that. I just hope the AAIB (Air Accident Investigation Branch) can come to a conclusion. The engine on that aircraft has never missed a beat.
"It looks like it nose-dived into the ground. No person is going to survive that. What I can't understand is why.
"I did hear someone say they thought the engine might have been the issue but that engine was in very good condition.
"He was just knocking out some circuits to fine-tune his ability.
"He was practising his landings, presumably to give himself more experience for when he came across airfields with shorter runways."
He added that Mr Marjason had a love of flying, saying: "That is why he bought into the group. That is why we all do it.
"It is something you enjoy, everyone has a hobby of some sort. You are operating in the third dimension and unfortunately things sometimes go wrong.
"My thoughts are with his family."
Mr Marjason, of Hamfield Close, ran his own business, Marjason & Associates.
He played the second horn in Oxted Band, which he had been a member of since 2000.
Writing on a British Microlight Aircraft Association forum in May, he said he had just passed his general skills training and would be flying the Rans aircraft.
His twitter profile states: "Chartered Surveyor, Corporate Building Engineer and Energy Assessor undertaking Building, Condition and Energy surveys… but would rather be flying a Microlight."
