Plane lost wing before fatal crash

A PRELIMINARY report into a plane crash at Galway Cricket Club in which the pilot and passenger died has concluded that the plane lost one of its wings prior to the accident.

The report into the crash, which claimed the lives of two Belgian men, said eyewitness reports and analysis of the wreckage distribution had determined that the aircraft “was seen to spin out of cloud with a significant portion of the starboard wing missing.”

“A subsequent survey of the impact site identified the missing section of the starboard wing, which was located 422 metres due east of the main wreckage. The cause of the starboard wing separation has yet to be determined.”

The investigation, by the Air Accident Investigation Unit of the Department of Transport, is ongoing and a formal report will be published in due course.

The two men are believed to have died instantly when their single-engine DR250 light aircraft crashed during an attempted emergency landing shortly after take-off from Galway airport at Carnmore on September 19, 2005.

The almost 40-year-old Belgian-registered privately-owned aircraft was due to fly to Saint-Ghislain, a private airfield in Belgium.

Visibility was poor with heavy rain and wind at the time of the accident, which occurred at approximately 12.40pm.

The aircraft plunged into the ground at Co Galway cricket club grounds at Lydacan, Oranmore, close to a school and within less than 200 metres of a number of houses.