A paraplegic charity fundraiser who was the first person to complete a marathon in a “bionic” suit died when her microlight crashed in Jordan during filming for a series for Apple’s VR headset, an inquest has heard.
Claire Lomas, 44, who was paralysed from the chest down after a horse-riding accident at Osberton Horse Trials in Nottinghamshire in 2007, “veered off the runway” and hit a large rock while landing the aircraft on July 15 2024.
An inquest at County Hall in Glenfield, Leicestershire, heard that Ms Lomas, who raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity, died of multiple severe traumatic injuries at King Hussein Medical Centre in the country’s capital Amman more than five weeks later.
Filming for Apple Vision Pro series
Lina Zilinskaite, who is a senior producer for Atlantic Productions, told the inquest on Tuesday the company was commissioned by Apple to create a series for its Vision Pro headset.
She told senior coroner for Rutland and North Leicestershire, Louise Pinder: “Each episode follows a different athlete performing some sort of challenge or feat.
“(It was) always controlled risk. Individuals were doing this as a big hobby or profession in some instances. We are not plucking people off the street to do it.”
Ms Zilinskaite said Ms Lomas was “delighted” to be selected, adding: “Claire had some experience with media. We sort of felt reassured she knew how the media and the process worked.
“She was very enthusiastic and keen and excited about the opportunity.”
Concerns about flying
The inquest heard Ms Lomas, from Eye Kettleby, near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, got a licence to fly a microlight, which is a small aircraft, a few years before.
The production company knew she needed help getting in and out of the specially adapted aircraft because she was paraplegic, the inquest heard.
Ms Zilinskaite said there were concerns Ms Lomas was nervous about flying the aircraft in Jordan, but the witness said: “She was absolutely sure she wanted to fly.”
Crash details
The coroner said a report shows the wind strength was “light and from the left which is considered normal” on the day of the crash and it would have been preferable to have a smaller camera on the microlight, but it did not exceed the weight limit for take-off.
The inquest heard the flight was cancelled the day before because of strong winds.
Ms Zilinskaite said there were test flights with the camera mounted on the microlight in the UK and Ms Lomas had flown without the camera mounted in Jordan before the fatal crash.
On the day of the crash, she flew in the air for about 15 minutes before attempting to land, the inquest heard.
Miss Pinder said Ms Lomas “hit a large rock” during landing, was taken by a standby ambulance to hospital in a critical condition.
Ms Zilinskaite said she raised her phone to film Ms Lomas’s landing, but instinctively did not press record because “the approach was not quite straight on”.
The witness added: “She veered off the runway then I just heard this noise.”
Ms Zilinskaite became emotional and said: “One thing about Claire I learned, she was incredibly stubborn. When she set her mind to do something, she would absolutely do it. She was incredibly strong-willed.”
Ms Lomas, who was a mother, was “excited” to come home with her family after spending weeks in hospital but then acquired an infection and deteriorated quickly, the inquest heard.
She died on August 22.
Legacy
The former chiropractor completed the London Marathon in 17 days in 2012 using a “bionic” suit, raising thousands of pounds for the Spinal Research charity.
Ms Lomas was also a motivational speaker, a qualified pilot and was made an MBE in 2017.
The hearing was not attended by Ms Lomas’s family members because it was “too painful” being so close to the anniversary of her death, her relatives’ representative Ben Bradley KC said.
The coroner said her relatives are concerned about the care she received at the hospital in Jordan, but it is not within her jurisdiction to investigate that formally.
The inquest continues.
