'He was remarkable': Partner of helicopter tower crash pilot says father-of-two would have fought to save lives before he died

The long-term partner of the pilot killed in the helicopter crash said yesterday that he would have tried his best to save the lives of others when his aircraft struck a crane and plunged 700ft to the ground.
Rebecca Dixon, 38, partner of Pete Barnes, 50, who died on Wednesday at 8am when his helicopter hit The Tower St George Wharf in Vauxhall, central London, praised him for being a ‘remarkable’ man.
Speaking from the family home near Mortimer, Berkshire, she said that Mr Barnes would have been ‘frantic’ as the helicopter went down and ‘the lives of others would have been at the forefront of his mind’.

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Rebecca Dixon (right), 38, partner of Pete Barnes (left), 50, who died on Wednesday when his helicopter hit The Tower St George Wharf in Vauxhall, central London, praised him for being a 'remarkable' man

Up in flames: The extraordinary moments after the helicopter crash in central London at 8am

Mr Barnes leaves a daughter, Alexandra, 12, and a son, Freddie, who turned eight yesterday. But Ms Dixon told the Evening Standard she found it ‘comforting’ that he would have been trying to save others.
She added: ‘He was always smiling and making other people feel happy, valued and important. He had his own special language of catch phrases like "best of British", "top banana" and "top bloke”.'

 

Ms Dixon said she was feeling ‘numb’ and will try to battle on ‘each day at a time’. She added that the two children were ‘remarkable’, when asked how they were coping following their father’s death.
When Mr Barnes’s helicopter came down, pedestrian Matthew Wood, 39, was also killed, but the situation could have been worse as it happened during rush hour, just yards from Vauxhall station.

Investigators look over the wreckage and the clear-up operation begins after the fatal helicopter crash into a crane on top of a development at St George's Wharf at Vauxhall in London

Rebecca Dixon, 38, partner of Pete Barnes, 50, praised him for being a 'remarkable' man

Aftermath: Debris lies on the ground after the helicopter crashed into a construction crane in central London

Wreckage: The helicopter crashed after hitting a crane on top of The Tower St George Wharf

His £3.6million AgustaWestland 109 Power helicopter was flying from Redhill, Surrey, to Elstree, Hertfordshire, but Mr Barnes asked to be diverted to Battersea Heliport because of bad weather.

Stunt pilot Mr Barnes, of Berkshire, who has flown helicopters for films such as Die Another Day and Saving Private Ryan, was alone in the aircraft amid thick cloud when it clipped the crane.
Staff at Redhill Aerodrome confirmed the helicopter left the site at 7.35am, while the owner of Battersea Heliport said Mr Barnes asked to land at one of its sites via Heathrow air traffic control.

Experienced pilot: Pete Barnes leaves a daughter, Alexandra, 12, and a son, Freddie, who turned eight yesterday

Celebrity: Pete Barnes pictured with Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, one of his many well-known clients

Pete Barnes had racked up 10,500 miles of flying time over 25 years and had worked for ambulance services

But the Heliport never established contact with the pilot and around 8am the emergency services started to receive hundreds of calls reporting the crash and arrived at the scene within four minutes.
Mr Barnes, who also flew aircraft for the Tomb Raider II film and was an air ambulance pilot, had 10,000 hours of flying time - including 3,500 hours on the type of craft involved in the incident.
Yesterday, workers began dismantling the crane on top of the skyscraper. Hundreds of local residents are unable to return to their homes due to the damaged machinery dangling 500ft in the air on top of The Tower.

Matt Wood, a victim of the Vauxhall helicopter crash, had been on his way to work

A mobile crane belonging to a hire firm arrived at the scene of the accident at 9.30am to start the process of securing the damaged crane.
In addition, the UK's largest crane is on it way to the site to help with the operation of replacing the machinery with a new model.
Meanwhile the pilot’s brother Chris Barnes, 55, of Nottingham, paid tribute to a ‘good guy’ who was ‘very good at what he did’ and sent his condolences to the family of Mr Wood.

Debris: A section of the crane was left lying in Nine Elms Lane after the collision

Damage: Remains of a helicopter sit on the roof of a building. Police cordons have remained in place

Fuselage: The damaged rotor of the plane was one of many pieces of the helicopter mechanism on the ground

Investigation: Authorities are removing the wreckage in order to determine the cause of the accident

Search: Forensic teams investigated the wreckage on the closed-off roads

Tidy: Workers in hard hats were seen piling the wreckage into large bags

What remains: A view of the broken crane after the helicopter accident that saw two people die

SISTER OF COMMUTER KILLED IN FIREBALL PAYS TRIBUTE TO HIM

The sister of helicopter fireball victim Matt Wood paid tribute to her brother yesterday saying he was 'a big man with a big heart - a big friendly giant'.
Amanda Wood, 31, said the 39-year-old had taken the role of head of the family after their father Brian died of cancer last January.
She said: 'He was a big man with a big heart, a big friendly giant. He didn't have a bad word to say about anyone. He was always at the end of the phone if you needed him.
'He said he would be proud to walk me down the aisle when I eventually get married. He said he would be happy to have that privilege.'
Mr Wood was struck as he arrived at the Vauxhall office of Rentokil.
Miss Wood said their mother was struggling to cope because their father had also died this time last year.

He said: ‘It's a matter of instinct (to minimise casualties) - it's what pilots do. He had 25 years and 10,500 hours experience. He was very good at what he did. He was outgoing, very personable.’
His added that rules around the construction of skyscrapers in London may need to be tightened, saying: ‘We've got to learn from a tragic accident like this.’
Workmen Richard Moule, 31, and Nicki Biagioni, 30, both of Essex, who should have been in the crane at the time of the accident, escaped death by minutes because they overslept.
Kevin Hodgson, now director of operations at the Great North Air Ambulance, served on life-saving missions for several years alongside Mr Barnes, whom he described as 'a good guy'.
He added: 'Pete was one of the best pilots I've ever had the pleasure of flying with. Over the years he will have flown on dozens of missions, no doubt saving lives along the way.'
Deal Or No Deal host Noel Edmonds paid tribute to Mr Barnes, saying he had flown with him 'over many years both in the UK and across the continent'. He added that he was a 'real character'.
The 64-year-old said he was the most 'conscientious, skilled and professional' pilot he had ever met, and they had 'wonderful' times - 'but Pete was always mindful of safety and responsibility to others'.
Aviation expert Simon Mitchell, a friend of Mr Barnes, told ITV's Daybreak: 'As an industry, your peers judge you as well, and I think everybody in the industry would accept that Pete was one of the best.'

Repair: Workmen on top of the crane which was hit by a helicopter in Vauxhall

Jeopardy: Workmen scaled the equipment to assess the damage done to it by the crash

Privately-educated Mr Barnes had previously described himself as 'the luckiest pilot around' after surviving a helicopter crash 15 years ago when the electrics failed but he managed to bring the aircraft down in a field.
A friend said: 'Pete used to show people pictures of the wreckage of the helicopter and say it was a miracle he survived.
'Apparently his electrics failed and he lost control. I believe he had passengers on board and they were amazed by the skills he used to guide the chopper down.

Witnesses described hearing a loud bang and seeing a flash of light as the helicopter collided with the high-rise crane. Mr Barnes and Mr Wood died in the incident

Police have been amazed that more people were not hurt in the incident, which saw the helicopter plummet to the ground

The streets were flooded with emergency services trying to help the injured and put out the flames. The collision claimed two lives

'He used to say he was the safest pilot around because most people don't survive one crash and the fact that he had meant that he was unlikely to have another.'
'I suppose it was a bit like being hit by lightning.'
In an interview with a local paper in 2006, Mr Barnes described his varied professional life, saying: ‘One minute you’re flying paramedics to scenes of carnage and devastation, then you’re flying VIPs and doing corporate entertainment at Ascot, Silverstone and the world rally driving championships.
The report described how Captain Barnes meticulously co-ordinated stunts in Hollywood films, such as a multiple abseil from a helicopter in Agent Cody Banks 2.

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When not working on films, he regularly took celebrities and A-list stars to and from yachts in Monaco and also flew race-goers to Ascot dressed in a top hat and tails.
One picture shows him beside a helicopter with Formula One racing driver Lewis Hamilton.
Working as what he described as an ‘aerial chauffeur’, he ferried world leaders to and from the 2005 G8 conference in Scotland.
Between 1997 and 2011, Mr Barnes worked for the police and air ambulances in Yorkshire, Wiltshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.
In 2004 he helped save a motorist trapped in his Audi in the flooded Stanhope Ford, County Durham, described by a local paper as a  ‘rescue reminiscent of a Hollywood movie'.
With the water level reaching the motorist's chest, Mr Barnes managed to keep the helicopter steady a foot above the car despite heavy winds while a paramedic jumped on to the roof and pulled the 40-year-old man out of a side window.

He also piloted for the BBC and Sky News and previously worked as a broadcaster giving travel reports for Metro FM in the North East.