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 crashed just over 14km 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. All those who died were from Lower Almondsbury in Bristol.
The Piper PA 28-180 Cherokee single-engine plane was flying from Gloucester in England to Kilrush airfield in Kildare when it crashed into remote bogland, some 1,500 feet up Corriebracks Mountain.
An initial report issued by the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) yesterday said the aircraft left Gloucester at 8.57am on October 25th in a northwesterly direction towards Anglesey.
"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 there 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 the airfield of the date or estimated time of his arrival and therefore was not expected.
Mountain rescuers found the plane at 9.10am the following day. It had crashed about nine miles west of its last recorded radar position, the report said.
The remains of the four occupants were in the cabin. "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 report states.