A PILOT lost his bearings after flying into cloud, a report into a fatal heliopter crash has found.

Three men died after the Robinson R44 crashed on Wheelton Moor in February.

Air accident investigators concluded that the commanding pilot -- one of two on the helicopter -- had become disoriented and was unable to control the heliopter.

Neither of the two pilots was qualified to fly the helicopter by sole reference to flight instruments.

The aircraft was one of two that had left Blackpool Airport in convoy heading for Coventry.

Pilot Wayne Burgess, 32, of Shilton Lane, Coventry, who was connected with Coventry Helicopters, and Neil Waterfall, a 38-year-old trainee pilot, of Leyhill House, Doveridge, Derbyshire, died at the scene. The third man, postmaster James Roe, 40, of Pump Lane, Doveridge, Derbyshire, is thought to have gone along for the ride. He was dead on reaching the Royal Preston Hospital.

They had planned to follow the route of the M6 but had veered off the route at Leyland and begun to follow the M61. Less than quarter of an hour after take off, the helicopter ran into cloud near Winter Hill and the pilot asked for bearings from staff at Warton Radar.

The last message received from the pilot was : "We're in trouble".

When contact with the helicopter was lost the Lancashire Police helicopter, the RAF helicopter and Bolton and Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Teams were alerted, along with fire and ambulance crews.

The police helicopter pilot said that conditions in the area at the time were "totally unsuitable" for flying by sight.