NASCAR Cup Series

Inquiry: McRae at fault for fatal helicopter crash

Published Sep. 6, 2011 2:06 p.m. ET

foxsports

An inquiry has ruled that former world rally champion Colin McRae was engaging in irresponsible low-level helicopter flying without a valid license when he was killed in a crash along with his 5-year-old son and two others.

McRae was piloting a helicopter he owned when it crashed in a wooded area near his home in Lanark, central Scotland in 2007.

A fatal accident inquiry says the crash could have been avoided as McRae's piloting was ''unnecessary and unsafe,'' with his ''spectacular and dramatic fly-past of the valley and its vegetation ... all for the benefit of his passengers.''

The inquiry, which sat for 16 days at Lanark Sheriff Court, also says the 1995 world champion wasn't holding a valid flying license.