Tue, Jun 29, 2004
Four Dead
Britain's Air Accident Investigation
Branch was in Devon Monday, where a Cessna 206 went down while
ferrying skydivers to altitude.
Witnesses to Sunday night's accident said they heard the
Stationair's engine sputter and surmised the aircraft was in
trouble.
"I was closing my foresters' lodge. I looked up and saw it was
having difficulty keeping the engine going," said David Prosser,
one of the first to arrive at the crash site. He was interviewed by
The Exiter Express & Echo. "It must have been only about 100
feet. It tried to fire the engine a couple of times. Then it went
over the trees from our view. Within ten seconds I heard a couple
of sharp bangs or cracks. There was no explosion.
"I realized it had crashed," he continued. "I told my assistant
Nicky to run up the track with her mobile phone. I drove the four
wheel drive up through a couple of fields. When I got to the plane
their was fuel coming out of it. It was a jumbled up mess. Nicky
was at the bottom of the field by the fence, talking to the
emergency services. She shouted at me to get away because there was
fuel coming out. I tried to direct the fire brigade and the police.
I went down the field to meet them. I took three of the firemen up
in my truck and led the other crew up from my farm. I then took a
back seat. I could only see three in the plane. There was nothing
really I could do. My only regret is I didn't shout to them to give
them encouragement. Nicky was shouting to them. I did what I
thought was best."
An unnamed fire department spokeswoman told the newspaper the
flight originated from Dunkeswell Airfield in Devon. "They were up
there for a parachute jump and all we knew when we were arriving at
the scene was that the plane had contained five parachutists and a
pilot," she said.
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