Inquiries into light aircraft crash in which two killed

Investigations into an air crash that took the lives of two men in Co Westmeath are continuing today.

The men, Liam Ryan, from Clontarf, Dublin, and Joseph McCabe, Lucan, Dublin, where on a training exercise from the National Flight Centre at Weston aerodrome in Dublin when the crash happened shortly after 10am yesterday.

Witnesses said the engine of the two-seater aircraft appeared to stall. The aircraft circled and the pilot seemed to attempt to land in a field 100m from a two-storey house on Riverside Road, a mile outside the village of Raharney and nine miles east of Mullingar.

However, it came down nose-first into a hollow in the field, crushing the cockpit and killing the two men instantly.

Three units of the fire brigade were called to the scene, as well as gardaí, the ambulance service and the Department of Transport's Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU).

The men's bodies were taken to the Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar for a postmortem. The Cessna 150 light aircraft was removed from the scene by the AAIU for examination at its facility in Gormanston, Co Meath.

The aircraft was owned by businessman Ciarán O'Connor, who runs the National Flight Centre at Weston Aerodrome.

In a statement, the centre confirmed the two men were experienced pilots. "The thoughts and sympathies of all the staff of the National Flight Centre are with the families at this time," it said.

Mr McCabe, who was in his late 30s, was a flying instructor. Mr Ryan, also in his 30s, was completing examinations to become an instructor.

Supt Pádraig Rattigan from Mullingar, who is leading the Garda investigation, said there was no evidence that the aircraft skidded on the ground before crashing. "The debris appears to be confined to one small site," he said.

He said the Garda investigation would be carried out separately from the AAIU's.

Local resident Pat Raleigh, who was one of the first at the scene, said he went to the aircraft with a number of men and checked the pilot's pulse but felt nothing. He was unable to reach the second passenger to check him.

"We kept shouting, 'Can you hear us?, Can you hear us?' but there was no response," he said. "The nose of the plane was buried into the ground and the back of the plane just broke right off." A neighbour who heard the aircraft said it was sputtering, stalling and starting again before it crashed, but that there was no loud noise on impact.

Parish priest Fr Richard Matthews, who delivered the last rites to the men, said that the accident was horrific.

"Those men set off this morning with every intention of getting back. They will be in our prayers over the next few days."