The first body was recovered this morning from the wreckage of two light aircraft that collided as they prepared to land at Coventry airport yesterday, killing five people.

Police are not treating the crash as suspicious but accident investigators are preparing to sift through the remains of the twin-engined Cessna 402 and light aircraft. The identities of the victims have not yet been released.

Rescue services this morning removed the body of the pilot of the light aircraft which came down near Coombe Abbey hotel at about 11.30am.

Mick Leach, a senior fire officer, said the light aircraft had disintegrated upon impact.

The Cessna came down in Brandon Wood about one mile away. Police said this morning there were difficulties accessing this site because of the thick woodland adding that the recovery operation would take some time.

The four people on board the Cessna 402 – two men and two women – were employees of specialist survey company Reconnaissance Ventures Ltd (RVL). There were reports it had been testing out landing systems for a commercial airline.

Eyewitnesses have paid tribute to the pilot of the Cessna who they said managed to navigate the plane away from a housing estate and into nearby woodland.

Julie Hall, who was working on a nearby farm, said: “We looked up and it looked like lots of confetti falling out of the sky.

“A twin-engined plane then came toward us, falling all the time. It was going to hit us or could have gone onto the housing estate.

“But I think the pilot must have realised what was going to happen because the plane then banked very, very sharply - like they do in those acrobatic displays.”

Colin Dennis, managing director of Coventry-based RVL, said the families of the four dead employees had been informed adding that he did not want to release their names until the bodies had been recovered.

He said: “It (the aircraft) had been taking an entirely routine flight and was on a perfectly normal approach to land at Coventry. It was approximately two miles from the runway.

“We believe it had been cleared to land by Coventry Airport air traffic control when it was in collision with a smaller single engine light aircraft, which was also hoping to land at Coventry.”

Mr Dennis added that it was still unclear which employee was flying the Cessna 402, a plane about 15 years old which had recently been refitted.

He said the aircraft was “better than new” after its makeover and was fitted with new equipment.

Detective Superintendent Adrian McGee “We are conducting a joint investigation with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch and Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service to try to find out what has happened.

“There are two scenes and they are difficult to get to. We are appealing for anyone who witnessed the crash to get in touch.”

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