AN INVESTIGATION is under way into an aircraft crash in Co Wicklow at the weekend that killed one man and critically injured another.
Noel Whitney (66) died when the single-engine plane in which he was a passenger crashed after its wing struck a tree at the Powerscourt estate on Saturday afternoon.
The pilot, Dr Michael Slazenger (69), was seriously injured and was airlifted from the scene. He remains in a critical condition at St James’s Hospital.
Mr Whitney’s body was taken to Loughlinstown hospital in south Dublin, where a postmortem examination will be carried out today.
Last night, the wreckage from the aircraft remained at the site.
The Air Accident Investigation Unit had carried out a technical inspection, but further work was required before it could be removed, said Leo Murray, inspector of air accidents with the Air Accident Investigation Unit in the Department of Transport.
Once that is completed, the wreckage will be brought to Gormanston Army camp, in Co Meath, for further tests.
The single-engine two-seater kit aircraft, a Falco EI BMF, belonged to Dr Slazenger and was based at the private airstrip at Powerscourt. It was one of the few Falco aircraft in the country.
Mr Murray, who is leading the investigation, said he had not yet ascertained why the aircraft climbed out of an attempt to land at the private airstrip on the estate, near Enniskerry.
The aircraft was on a local flight and was approaching to land, Mr Murray said. It then “executed a go around”, climbing out of its landing course, and during that procedure, it struck the top of a tree which was in line with the runway.
Preliminary results from the investigation into the accident will be available in a month’s time.
Dr Slazenger, a consultant anaesthetist, retired from St Vincent’s University Hospital in 2005. The Slazenger family are heirs to the famous sportswear and equipment brand which bears their name.
Their father Ralph came to Ireland from England in 1953 when he bought Durrow Abbey in Co Laois. He moved to the 4,000-acre Powerscourt Estate in 1961 after selling his company Slazenger to Dunlop.
