Five Lost When C402, Homebuilt Plane Collide Near
Coventry Airport
ANN REALTIME UPDATE 08.18.08 2000
EDT: Officials in Britain have confirmed the private
aircraft that collided with a Cessna 402 near Coventry Airport was
not a "microlight," as was initially reported.
"Using the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) UK Register I have
confirmed that the aircraft was not a microlight. It was a two seat
home-built light aircraft from the LAA (Light Aircraft Association)
fleet," said Geoff Weighell, Chief Executive of the British
Microlight Aircraft Association, to The Press Association.
ANN has received reports the plane was a Rand KR2, a
composite-bodied, high-performance two-seat plane.
Authorities expect to release the identities of the plane's
pilot, as well as of the four people lost onboard the C402, on
Tuesday.
Original Report
1300 EDT: British investigators are working to
determine what led to Sunday's fatal midair collision between a
Cessna light twin and a single-seat ultralight, type unknown, near
Coventry Airport in Warwickshire.
BBC News reports the planes collided on approach to land at
Coventry, with both disintegrating on impact. The ultralight
impacted near the site of the collision, about two miles from the
runway; wreckage from the twin, identified in press reports as a
Cessna 402, came down in a wooded area near Coombe Abbey Country
Park.
The pilot and three passengers onboard the Cessna 402 were lost,
as was the ultralight's pilot. Investigators have recovered
wreckage from the ultralight, as well as that pilot's body.
"They have found one wing and the tail, and they are hoping to
find even more as they go," a police spokeswoman told the BBC.
"What they have to do is mark out where they found everything. It
will be recorded and taken away for evidential purposes."
The C402 (file photo of type, below) was operated by
Reconnaissance Ventures Ltd (RVL), a local land survey company. The
plane was returning from a routine survey when the crash
occurred.
"It had been taking an entirely routine flight and was on a
perfectly normal approach to land at Coventry," said RVL managing
director Colin Dennis. "It was approximately two miles from the
runway... We believe it had been cleared to land by Coventry
airport air traffic control when it was in collision with a
smaller, single-engine light aircraft, which was also hoping to
land at Coventry."
Witness David Mooney described the Cessna's final moments.
"I saw a plane travelling east, coming down sharply straight
towards the woods. Immediately thought it looked like something was
wrong," Mooney said. "Then, at the last minute, just 50ft up, the
pilot managed to pull up the nose of the plane. It looked like he
was trying to save the plane from the trees.
"But then I realized that the plane was going down and it
disappeared into the woods."