An initial report into a fatal air crash in which a couple, their 14-year-old son and his young friend died in Co Wicklow last month said the plane came down just nine miles from its last recorded radar position.
Sharif Booz, his wife Margaret, their 14-year-old son Ayman and his friend Charlie Froud, also 14, died when the light aircraft piloted by Mr Booz crashed in the Wicklow mountains on October 25th.
The Piper PA 28-180 Cherokee single-engine plane was flying from Gloucester in England to Kilrush airfield in Co Kildare when it crashed deep into remote bogland, some 1,500 feet up Corriebracks Mountain. The wreckage could only be accessed by helicopter.
An initial report into the crash issued by the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) today said the aircraft left Gloucester at 8.57am on October 25th last routed in a north-westerly direction towards the Isle of Anglesey.
The pilot made initial contact with Dublin Air Traffic Control (ATC) at 10.12am and was recorded crossing the Irish Sea at 6,500 feet. He contacted air traffic control at 11.10am to advise that he was “coasting in at Newcastle”.
Radar information verified that the plane flew over Newcastle airfield, Co. Wicklow at an altitude of 4,000 feet and continued on a westerly heading for Kilrush. At 11.17am the pilot told ATC he was 24 miles from Kilrush and asked to continue his own navigation and close the flight plan.
Air traffic controllers closed the flight plan and did not receive any further transmissions.
“The last known radar contact was observed at 11.26 hrs with the aircraft on a westerly heading at an altitude of 3,400 ft in the vicinity of Glenmacnass Waterfall, northeast of Tonelagee Mountain,” the report by crash investigator Leo Murray said.
Mr Booz had contacted Kilrush earlier in the week and advised of his intention to fly into the airfield the following weekend.
But while a flight plan was filed with air traffic control on the day of the accident, the pilot did not advise Kilrush Airfield of the date or estimated time of his arrival and therefore was not expected.
“In addition, having closed his flight plan during flight, there was no longer a requirement for the pilot to make telephone contact with ATC to confirm his safe arrival, nor was there a requirement for ATC to confirm his actual arrival at Kilrush,” the report said.
A concerned relative of the pilot raised the alarm when the aircraft did not arrive. Air traffic controllers contacted all airfields in the southwest region and the alarm was raised when it was realised the plane had not arrived.
Mountain rescuers found the plane at 9.10am the following morning. It had crashed about nine miles west of its last recorded radar position, the report said.
The four occupants were found fatally injured in the cabin of the aircraft.
“The investigation is currently examining all aspects of the flight, in particular the weather conditions prevailing en-route and at the time of the accident.
The Investigation is ongoing and a final report will be published in due course,” Mr Murray’s report said.
An inquest into the deaths of the four people who died was opened and adjourned in Bristol on October 30th, pending the outcome of the air accident investigation.