A Conservative party donor worth £500million killed in a helicopter crash alongside three other men last night, had safety fears over his £10.7m helicopter.
Lord Ballyedmond, also known as Dr Edward Haughey was killed alongside his foreman Declan Small and two airmen Carl Dickerson and Lee Hoyle, near his stately home in Gillingham at 7.30pm yesterday.
The Mail Online discovered the doomed Augusta Westland AW139 VIP helicopter suffered a string of safety defects, including a hole in one of its blades, oil leaks from its main gearbox and unexplained vibrations.
Lord Ballyedmond lodged a claim against the Aircraft's manufacturers Augusta Westland in the High Court in September 2013, seeking a refund on the purchase price of the helicopter.
According to High Court documents seen by Mail Online: 'The aircraft suffered from a number of defects and reliability problems, including there being a big hole in one of its blades, oil leaks from the main gearbox , unexplained vibrations and failures of the IFEEL systems (internal entertainment, communication, lighting heating and electronic maps systems) and FIPS (Full Ice Protection System).
'The repairs and modifications made to the aircraft by the defendant following delivery resulted in a total of 85 days during which the aircraft could not be used by the claimant between 14 September 2012 and 30 April 2013.'
In earlier correspondence included in Lord Ballyedmond's statement of claim, Augusta Westland admitted that the helicopter's faults were 'unacceptable'.
The document states: 'The 28 days of unscheduled maintenance recorded so far is high than the average figures recorded on the fleet, and therefore we are sure that we can improve such unacceptable performance, conscious of the significant disruption this has caused.'
However, Lord Ballyedmond was not satisfied with the response and instead sought the return of his £10.7m investment claiming 'among other things that the aircraft was not
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