Funeral plans for owner of Powerscourt killed in crash

THE funeral of Dr Michael Slazenger who died along with a friend following a plane crash in Wicklow is expected to take place on Thursday.

He will later be buried on the family-owned Powerscourt Estate grounds.

Tributes were paid to the 69-year-old, who was head of the 1,000-acre estate, after he passed away yesterday following the weekend crash on the picturesque grounds.

His death followed that of his friend, businessman Noel Whitney, 66, who died instantly when the two-seater aircraft that both men were travelling in crashed while trying to land on a private airstrip on the estate’s grounds.

Dr Slazenger, chairman and chief executive of Powerscourt Estates, was in a critical condition in St James Hospital but died from his injuries yesterday at around 7.30am. It is believed he got into some difficulty piloting the Falco one-engine plane on Saturday afternoon. After a landing was aborted on the 1,000-yard airstrip, onlookers said the light aircraft’s right wing clipped a bush and crashed into the ground.

An inquiry by the Department of Transport’s Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) is ongoing and the wreckage is to be removed from the site to Gormanston army camp, Co Meath, for further tests today.

Leo Murray, who is heading up the investigation, said they are interviewing witnesses to the crash and a preliminary report will be published within a month.

“We’re concentrating on working on the wreckage at the minute and interviewing witnesses to the accident,” Mr Murray said.

“We’re going to be doing a closer technical examination on the wreckage at our facility in Gormanston this week.”

Mr Murray said flying conditions were good on Saturday, ruling out the weather as a factor in the crash.

Local sources say Dr Slazenger’s family are traumatised by the death of the retired consultant anaesthetist, who is survived by his wife, Noreen, and his three daughters, Marianne, Sarah and Elizabeth, as well as his two brothers and two sisters.

His removal is expected to take place tomorrow and arrangements have been made to close the grounds of Powerscourt Estate to the general public on Thursday.

A funeral mass will take place at St Patrick’s Church at noon in Enniskerry. A private burial is then expected on the estate, in the family cemetery.

A statement from the estate company yesterday read: “His tragic and untimely death has shocked his family and many friends, the management, staff and members of Powerscourt and the local community in which he has been an integral part since the Slazenger family moved to Powerscourt in 1961.”

Dr Slazenger had been taking a leisurely flight. Local sources said he had flown for decades and was a “very conscientious” pilot.