Top UK CEO And His Prominent Anti Brexit Campaigning Son Among Dead In Plane Crash

Weather conditions were perfect apparently.

The experienced Australian pilot Gareth Morgan, 44, died when the aircraft he was flying crashed into Jerusalem Bay. On board were the British businessman Richard Cousins, 58, his fiancee, Emma Bowden, 48, her daughter Heather, 11, and his sons Edward, 23, and William, 25.

Shaw said Sydney Seaplanes’ four aircraft were professionally maintained to manufacturers’ specifications.

Planes were checked over at the end of each day, and after every 100 hours of flying time they were removed from the water for maintenance. Engines are replaced after 1,100 hours of flying time: the engine on the plane that crashed had flown 200 hours.

The company had flown thousands of flights before Sunday’s accident with an unblemished safety record, Shaw said.

The plane was returning from the Cottage Point Inn and Shaw said conditions were “benign” for flying.

“It was about a 15 knot northerly wind which is perfect weather conditions. It was a lovely day.”

Cousins was the group chief executive of the world’s largest catering company, Compass Group, and was due to stand down from his position in March.

Cousins had also served on the board of supermarket Tesco, and had previously been named as one of the world’s 100 best-performing chief executives by the Harvard Business Review.


His son, Will, worked for Open Britain, the group campaigning against a hard Brexit. Roland Rudd, chairman of Open Britain, said the group was devastated by his loss.

“Will was an extraordinary young man who was passionate about what he did; who took deep pride in his work; and came into the office every day with enthusiasm, energy and determination.

“Will saw his role at Open Britain as more than a job. For him, it was a cause akin to a crusade to stop Britain crashing out of the EU with no deal or a bad deal.

Top CEO among five Britons killed in seaplane crash near Sydney

Association with UN and Armed Forces

Compass Group's subsidiary ESS became a UN-registered food vendor in 2000 and then won contracts to supply UN peace-keepers operating in Sudan, East Timor, Liberia, Burundi, Eritrea, Lebanon, Cyprus and Syria.[11][11] The company bought Morrison Management Specialists in 2000 and in July of that year the company merged with Granada plc as part of a strategy to separate the media and catering interests of the latter. The two companies demerged in February 2001 to form Compass plc and Granada Media.[8]

ESS was contracted by the U.S. Marine Corps, the 82nd Airborne Division, the British Ministry of Defence, the Coalition Provisional Authority, along with the major defense contractors Fluor, RMS, Bechtel, and most notably KBR (a subsidiary of Halliburton) under the U.S. Army troop support contract called LOGCAP III to provide dining and construction services at desert bases and encampments in Kuwait[14] and Iraq[14] from the start of operations in 2003 to 2006.[14]

Compass Group (Wikipedia)


Not necessarily foul play but there certainly are angles worth exploring!

I don't think it's related to Brexit - their political viewpoint is mild compared to those at home. But I do wonder whether they knew too much about the transport of cargo to and from these countries? Arms, drugs, illegal exports? Somebody is tidying up loose ends?

a reply to: MindBodySpiritComplex

Cousins was the group chief executive of the world’s largest catering company, Compass Group, and was due to stand down from his position in March.

Thats suspicious enough.

Who is slated to replace him?

There are whole lot of military personnel who will be saying that this is payback for the utter sh1t that has been served to us, that we pay extortionate mess fees for, that is laughingly referred to as food.

The ESS subsidiary of Compass Group also offer services in remote locations including Antarctica judging by some job offers. And their government services are a recent (2014) addition with lots of CT potential:

ESS Government Services

Our Government Services sector was created in 2014 to acknowledge and support the specialist nature of high profile and secure contracts within police, prisons, central and local government.

Our clients include Ministry of Defence, DEFRA, Department of Work and Pensions, Department of Health, HMRC and the Welsh Government amongst other Government departments. We offer a great customer experience, accessing world class leading suppliers and food innovation to deliver offers that are on trend and great value for money in a high street like environment.

For many of our clients, catering supports a portfolio of superior and sustainable soft services these include; waste management, cleaning, pest control, security and Reception services.

link

Ample opportunity for gathering confidential information...

They know it's coming.
a reply to: stormcell

My gut feeling is BAYER and MONSATAN are involved.

What other big deals were threatened by BREXIT?

A tragic accident. Fail to understand why people think accidents don't happen to rich business men.

Nothing was found mechanically wrong with the aircraft, the safety record of the company is excellent, and it's not believed to be pilot error. The current theory is that the passenger in the front seat of the aircraft turned to take a picture, and clipped the pilot with his elbow, possibly knocking him unconscious.

www.telegraph.co.uk...