David Kidney in pilot safety campaign

A MIDLAND MP is fighting to prevent unlicensed pilots taking to the skies after a newlywed couple were killed in a 170mph crash.

Nick and Emma O’Brien, from Watford Road, Shirley, died when a light aircraft flown by pilot Alan Matthews came down near the busy West Coast Main Line railway route, near Rugeley, in January last year.

Mr Matthews, who was also killed, had not been authorised to fly since his certification expired in 2003.

Now Stafford MP David Kidney is pressing for improvements in the monitoring of pilots after it emerged the Civil Aviation Authority(CAA) had no formal procedures in place to check they were suitably qualified.

The doomed plane containing the O’Briens and Mr Matthews, aged 59 and from Coppice Road, Walsall Wood, narrowly missed a passenger train when it crashed.

The couple, who had only married four months earlier, were parents to 18-month-old Joel while Emma, aged 29, was mum to 10-year-old Callum from a previous relationship.

The CAA admitted no checks were routinely made on pilots in response to a letter written by Mr Kidney following an inquest at Stafford Crown Court at which a jury decided Mr Matthews had unlawfully killed the O’Briens.

Mr Haigh’s office confirmed the coroner had also written to the CAA but was still waiting for a reply.