Aircraft owned by a flight school involved in a crash that killed a teenager and his 80-year-old instructor had been examined in at least five previous watchdog investigations, the Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Leading Edge Flight Training operates eight light aircraft, including the Piper Tomahawk that crashed on October 16, killing instructor Ian Haggis and 16-year-old Ryan Sprott, from Johnstone, Renfrewshire.
MoS research found that aircraft operated by the flight school had been involved in at least five serious incidents since 2019 investigated by the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB).
The MoS can also disclose that the aircraft involved in the crash near Drymen, Stirlingshire, had undergone maintenance shortly before the tragedy, after being placed in a hangar at the end of September.
Flight tracking data from FlightRadar24 shows the plane remained on the ground from September 28 until the day of the accident. Sources at Cumbernauld Airport confirmed that maintenance work had been carried out before October 16.
The AAIB says at least five aircraft owned by Leading Edge have been involved in investigations over the past seven years.
In July 2019, a Piper Tomahawk landed short of the runway at Cumbernauld Airport and overturned. Neither the pilot nor the passenger was injured.
Ryan Sprott, 16, was taking a flying lesson with instructor Ian Haggis when both were killed
Friends called Ian Haggis, known as the ‘Flying Haggis’, a ‘legend of aviation’
A month later, a four-seat Reims Cessna veered off the runway after the ‘inadvertent application of braking’.
In March 2022, the engine of another Tomahawk caught fire after failing to start for a student.
The instructor had added extra fuel to the engine, a process known as priming, and attempted to start it when flames emerged from the aircraft. Investigators concluded that ‘over priming’ was the likely cause of the fire.
In April 2022, a pilot took two passengers on an introductory private flight while the aircraft’s towbar was still attached.
Air traffic control alerted the pilot to the mistake. The pilot said they had been ‘distracted’ by a passenger’s question before take-off.
Leaving a towbar attached can cause a propeller to shatter, damage the steering system or result in a loss of control.
In September 2023, the same aircraft forced a British Airways jet to abort its landing after it was manoeuvred in the wrong direction along the runway at Glasgow Airport.
The BA aircraft carried out a ‘go-around’ before landing safely a short time later.
Four aviation industry sources told the MoS that they had concerns about Leading Edge’s safety record.
A former employee, now a commercial airline pilot, said he left the company four years ago after an aircraft began ‘shaking violently’ during a flight.
Leading Edge Flight Training was closed following the fatal crash
He said: ‘The industry is very small, close-knit and everyone knows one another so it’s hard to speak out publicly. I have kept quiet about why I left but I had serious concerns about the state of the aircraft at Leading Edge.
‘I was flying in one of the planes one day and it started shaking violently. The engine cowling had a bolt missing, and there was tape placed over it to keep the aircraft flying. Another plane had an engine fire. It completely put me off. I moved elsewhere.
‘Obviously there will be a thorough investigation into what happened with the Tomahawk, and I hope it gets the answers both of these families need. It’s a tragedy, and not something any of us who love flying want to see. But there has to be a wider examination of what is going on at the flight school.’
Police and the AAIB are still investigating the crash, and the Crown Office said it was committed to ensuring the circumstances and facts of the tragedy were ‘aired in an appropriate legal forum’.
A spokesman said: ‘The Procurator Fiscal has received reports in connection with the deaths of an 80-year-old man and a child after a fatal light aircraft crash near Drymen on October 16, 2026.
‘An investigation by Police Scotland, supported by the Civil Aviation Authority, is ongoing and once complete will be fully considered by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.’
The Civil Aviation Authority said it would ‘not be appropriate to comment’ given the ongoing investigation. Leading Edge was contacted for comment.