Five people died yesterday when a light aircraft approaching Coventry airport collided with a microlight.

The twin-engined Cessna 402 crashed into woods opposite the Coombe Abbey Hotel, killing the male pilot and all three passengers – a man and two women.

The microlight broke up on impact, killing the pilot. There were no passengers and its debris came down within a mile of the Cessna, close to the Coventry Road.

David Mooney, 53, who lives in Binley Woods, said that he saw the Cessna pilot struggling with the controls in a desperate attempt to pull up the nose before the aircraft plunged into Brandon Woods.

“I saw a plane travelling east coming down sharply straight towards the woods,” he said. “I immediately thought it looked like something was wrong, then at the last minute, just 50 feet up, the pilot managed to pull up the nose of the plane. It looked like he was trying to save the plane from the trees. Then I realised that the plane was going down and it disappeared into the woods. It was weird because there was no bang.”

Another witness, Malcolm Collins, said that the microlight “completely disintegrated in a big bang”. “Small pieces started falling down to the ground. The twin engine was damaged to the right. It plunged and then recovered a small height. We thought it had managed to recover but it came down on our left-hand side. Then we heard a large rumble,” he said.

The Cessna’s four victims were employees of Reconnaissance Ventures, a specialist aviation company based at Coventry airport. The company carries out survey work for Ordnance Survey, the RAF and other clients. The crew had been on a routine survey operation for a private client.

Colin Dennis, group managing director, said: “Our aircraft was on its final approach to land at Coventry airport and was in contact with air control. It was just one minute away from landing.”

He said that the pilot had a wealth of experience. “They were four highly respected and very well-qualified members of the team. All our thoughts and prayers are with the families. We are a small company and we know all our employees very well; we are like one big family.” The staff on board were three commercial pilots and an electronics engineer and they had been in the air for about an hour and a half, he said. “They were talking to air traffic control and were, we believe, cleared to land.”

West Midlands Ambulance Service sent an ambulance crew and an air ambulance. A spokesman confirmed that all five people on board the two planes had died. Richard Topping, the incident commander, said that it was the worst accident scene he had dealt with in his 20 years of service. He said: “We are used to dealing with traffic collisions where people can die, but this is the first of its kind for me. There was nothing that could have been done to have saved the people inside.”

Mick Leach, group manager from Rugby Fire Station, said: “As far as I am aware, the single-engine aircraft disintegrated pretty much in mid-air.”

Police cordoned off a wide area of woods and farmland where wreckage from the aircraft had landed, including access to the front of the Coombe Abbey Hotel. Coventry Road was also closed.

Warwickshire Police, Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch are jointly investigating the collision.

Conditions were clear at the time of the accident at about 11.30am. Coventry airport was closed yesterday afternoon.

The operation was suspended last night and will continue again this morning when the bodies are expected to be recovered from the wreckage.

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