Colin McRae dead

[Crybaby Bunting]

A helicopter that crashed in rural Scotland today was registered to rally driver Colin McRae, it has been revealed. At least one person was feared dead after the aircraft came down near Lanark this afternoon.It is not known whether the former world rally champion, who has a pilot's licence, was on board.The Scottish Ambulance Service confirmed that its own helicopter had been despatched to the scene along with three ambulance crews and units from Strathclyde Fire Brigade. Police have said extensive damage was done to the twin squirrel helicopter and they were not immediately able to confirm how many people had been travelling in the craft.

Sky Correspondent James Matthews said: "My understanding is that the helicopter involved is registered to Colin McRae, the former world rally champion former world rally champion. "He lives on an estate where this crash took place, the Jervis Wood estate just outside Lanark in the central belt of Scotland. "All police will say it that they are in touch with the family to try to establish the identity of those on board the helicopter."

Edited September 15, 2007 by The General

[Dan]

Jean-Eric Freudiger, McRae's agent, said the 39-year-old driver had been piloting the helicopter himself. Also on board were believed to be his son Johnny, another adult and another child. Police said there were no survivors.

McRae's wife Alison and their daughter Hollie, 9, were not on board, friends said.

[King Ellis]

Damn, did they find any bibles near the crash scene?

[YI]

The parents did it.

[King Ellis]

The parents did it.

You mean they found the kids DNA in the boot of the helicopter?

[Baddar]

Well...A slightly different way to go than many would have imagined.

[therockbox]

Renault McRae?

[Kobra]

Stop being inconsiderate pricks.

Tom Gordon for The Sunday Times

THE former rally driving champion Colin McRae was killed and his five year-old son feared dead in a helicopter crash yesterday afternoon. The aircraft came down in Jerviswood, Lanarkshire, half a mile from the family's home and burst into flames just after 4pm.

Jean-Eric Freudiger, McRae's agent, said the 39-year-old driver had been piloting the helicopter himself. Also on board were believed to be his son Johnny, another adult and another child. Police said there were no survivors.

McRae's wife Alison and their daughter Hollie, 9, were not on board, friends said.

McRae became Britain's first World Rally champion in 1995. He was one of the country's most successful sportsmen, achieving 25 wins in World Rally events and 42 podium places. He was a flamboyant driver, inspiring one the world's best-selling computer rally games.

The helicopter came down within half a mile of McRae's home, Jervis House, a 16th-century tower house, which has an adjacent helipad. The weather had been overcast, with a light breeze, but visibility was good.

Strathclyde police said the extent of the fire damage was making identification a problem.

McRae's wife, a childhood sweetheart and his former co-driver, was taken back to the house under police escort shortly after 6pm. She looked calm, but neighbours gathering outside the house looked shaken with grief.

McRae's friend the rally journalist Jeremy Hart who flew with the champion several times described him as a "very good, very measured pilot whose natural ability with machinery was second to none". "Colin regularly flew all over the UK and into Europe," said Hart. "He knew the terrain and conditions at Jerviswood very well. It was the place he flew into most regularly.

"As a driver Colin was misunderstood slightly as being reckless but everything you saw with him came from pure raw talent as opposed to being learnt. He was the Michael Schumacher of rally driving.

"It's so ironic that he should die in a helicopter crash when he had competed and had brushed with death so many times as a rally driver."

R.I.P Colin McRae

[Guest Ringmaster]

Quasar's crying. Hope your all happy

[Johnny Latino Heat]

I never was a Rally fan, but I know he was one of the greats... RIP to him and to the people who were in the helicopter.

[King Ellis]

It's ok for people to be all "lol, what did Maddy get for hir birthday? Raped." in other threads but just caus it's a scot we're pricks?

[Dan]

Yes.

RIP McCrae

[Magus978]

Inconsideriate prickery aside...terrible way to go out. You can't like seeing someone die, especially at 39. A champion taken from the world of racing too soon.

RIP Colin McRae

Edited September 15, 2007 by Magus978

[Baddar]

It's ok for people to be all "lol, what did Maddy get for hir birthday? Raped." in other threads but just caus it's a scot we're pricks?

Exactly. He was killed in an accident, not a murdered 4 year-old. It's a fair enough claim to say "don't take the piss of him" but the way I look at it, if you were to be making "death jokes" about any one of the two, it'd be him.

[Kobra]

It's ok for people to be all "lol, what did Maddy get for hir birthday? Raped." in other threads but just caus it's a scot we're pricks?

Who said it was alright? I think that lot are pricks too, no matter what nationality.

[King Ellis]

Yea, it's easy to get caught up in the moment and as i'm sure you're all aware it tends to be the standard reflex on here to go for the near the knuckle humour. So, sorry for that.

It is a sad loss of life though, like Johnny I was never too much into the old Rally thing but it's sad for people with their whole lives ahead of them to pass away. RIP to all.

[Kobra]

Yea, it's easy to get caught up in the moment and as i'm sure you're all aware it tends to be the standard reflex on here to go for the near the knuckle humour. So, sorry for that.

It is a sad loss of life though, like Johnny I was never too much into the old Rally thing but it's sad for people with their whole lives ahead of them to pass away. RIP to all.

I'm not into the "old rally thing," but I did meet the guy, An approachable down to earth family guy. I'm not one to grieve over someone I met and spoke to for the best part of a minute but where are all the shitty remarks and jokes when it is a wrestler chocking on his own vomit or dying of a heart attack due to drugs misuse?

[Matt]

I'm still hoping he's alive, not really into the sport, but I used to be as a kid, and it'll be sad if he's confirmed to be dead, but I'm still holding out hope. RIP to the McRae or anyone who was in the helicopter.

Edit: And Kobra, there were plenty of Benoit jokes.

Edited September 15, 2007 by - Matt -

[King Ellis]

Not wanting to detract from the thread any further but, it comes down to a case of blindspots really. The Ring, in your example, is a place where people get picked on for having a word out of place so any attempts at these kind of jokes would be shot down by the mods in there.

Matt raises a good point though, I have skimmed the BBC site since this topic went up and caught the BBC news whilst waiting for MoTD and nothing has come up on this yet, nothing specific to Colin that is other than that this was his estate.

[Dan]

To be fair, the first guy that made a benoit joke got hounded and calls for him to be banned where made.

After a couple of days it became acceptable.

& I don't 'get' making jokes about dead people. Unless it was some child killer or mass terrorist or something, people don't deserve the indignity of being mocked after they die, surely.