Oriana Pepper from Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk had developed an infection that spread to her brain. Pepper was well on her way to becoming a commercial airline pilot and had passed her theory exams on the EasyJet program in Oxford. She had traveled to Belgium for her instrument scores. In Antwerp, the inquest heard, Pepper was bitten by a mosquito on her forehead. He was hospitalized on July 7 last year when the infection spread. Doctors prescribed antibiotics which did not help. Two days later, she collapsed in front of her boyfriend James Hall who had to take her back to hospital. Pepper died there on July 21 last year. Suffolk’s senior coroner, Nigel Parsley, said on Wednesday that the trainee pilot died “as a result of a severe infection caused by an insect bite on the forehead”. Parsley said: “An infection entered Oriana’s skin after an insect bite. It then entered the carotid artery of the neck and led to septic emboli in her brain.” “I have never seen such a case before,” said the coroner. “It’s just one of those things that is such an unfortunate tragedy for a young lady who clearly had a wonderful career and life ahead of her.” Pepper’s parents, Tristan and Louisa Pepper, attended the inquest and later released a statement saying their daughter “loved nothing more than to go flying with her dad and her brother Oliver, also a trainee commercial pilot ». He said his daughter used to describe flying as “having an office in the sky among the clouds.” “She had met someone she loved, was training to be a commercial pilot and fulfilling her dreams.” The trainee pilot’s mother told the inquest that, in Pepper’s memory, the family had “set up a small scholarship to encourage other female pilots to enter the profession, working with the British Women Pilots Association”.
