The Flying Club is the fourth episode of the sixteenth series of Midsomer Murders and originally aired on 5th February 2014.
DCI Barnaby and DS Charlie Nelson investigate the murder of flying instructor Bernard King who, after being bludgeoned on the back of the head was dropped in the nearby lake from his own airplane. He worked at the nearby flying club run by Perry Darnley whose family has a long history of flying: his father won the DFC in World War II; his mother delivered airplanes from the factory to air bases as a member of the Air Transport Auxiliary; and his son Alex flies for the RAF. The murder weapon - a pipe wrench - is found in employee Duggie Wingate's toolbox but he claims to know nothing about it. Perry was restructuring the company and a number of people were going to lose their job. There is also Eddie Rayner whose daughter Jessie is working as the receptionist at the flying club and is engaged to Alex. The police have a second murder when Eddie is found dead, apparently run down by an airplane. Eddie's records of landings at night without lights suggests there was a smuggling operation at the airfield but the solution to the crime is much simpler than that.
Tropes:
- Buzzing the Deck: Done with murderous intent; the murderer is flying a light plane and chases Eddie Rayner, who is on the ground. The murderer buzzes him low enough to strike his head with the landing gear of the plane, killing him. During the Motive Rant at the end, Barnaby acknowledges it was an exceptional piece of flying.
- Control Freak: The reason Bernard King was murdered: his wife finally snapped after years of being unable to do anything without his permission.
- Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Molly Darnley allows Duggie Wingate to blame her for the death of his sister Ellie for decades because she doesn't want to ruin his memory of Ellie by telling him that Ellie flew into the storm that killed her against orders.
- Vehicular Sabotage: The fuel line on a stunt plane is cut during an airshow.
- Wrench Whack: Bernard King is done in by a blow to the back of the head with a wrench.
