Family escape after Christmas Eve flight’s emergency landing in a field

A family escaped a Christmas Eve plane crash in Tipperary after their light aircraft fell 9,000 feet out of the sky and into a farmer’s field.

The single-engined plane, carrying the pilot, his wife, their two young children, and the family dog, got into difficulty as it travelled to Galway from Havensford West, in England.

Farmer Tim Reddan, who was feeding his livestock at Mill Farm, Lorrah, Co Tipperary, couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the family emerge unscathed from the wreckage.

In true Christmas spirit Mr Reddan brought the shocked family to his house for tea and helped the pilot and his wife keep some Christmas presents out of sight as they waited for relatives to drive them on to Galway where they spent Christmas.

Praising the pilot for his cool emergency descent, Mr Reddan said: “The pilot told me he had 90 seconds to make up his mind where he was going to land.”

The experienced pilot, whose identity remains a mystery, had factored in an emergency plan should anything go wrong on the flight.

“He was a great man, a brave man. He had everything planned. He was able to land the plane uphill to slow it down,” said Mr Reddan.

The Tipperary farmer said, even though the plane landed around 200 metres from where he was feeding cattle, he was the last to come across the scene as the noise of his machinery drowned out the sound of the falling plane.

“I never heard a thing. There were people from four miles away at the scene before I heard about it,” Mr Reddan said.

“They were freezing and fairly shook. It was a terrifying experience for them. The woman’s brother came and collected her and the children at teatime and they were all right at that stage. The pilot had to stay because the scene had to be preserved,” he added.

The crash is being investigated by the Air Accident Unit of the Irish Aviation Authority. According to a spokesman for the Irish Coast Guard, the Valentia Coast Guard tasked the Shannon-based Rescue Helicopter 115 to a light aircraft ‘on fire which was ditching on land’. The plane landed safely before Rescue 115 reached the scene.

Mr Reddan said it was a Christmas Eve they would never forget.