THE FINAL moments before a small aircraft with nine people on board crashed were recalled at an inquest in Galway yesterday.
The inquest, which will continue today, heard how seven passengers and two crew knew they were going to crash in Connemara two years ago.
Pilot Matt Masterson (59), Terenure, Dublin, and accountant Paul McNamee (57), Loughrea, Co Galway, died in the tragedy.
A group of businessmen from Galway had arranged to take a demonstration flight from Connemara airport in Inverin to Inis Meain, one of the Aran Islands.
Many of the group were members of the Clifden Airport Development Company and they had an interest in buying a Cessna Caravan single-engined aircraft.
Mr Masterson and maintenance engineer Alan Smith flew from Weston Aerodrome in Co Dublin, collected some of the group at Inverin and flew to Inis Meain on July 5th, 2007.
The pilot had some concerns about the weather and decided not to return to Inverin to collect the remainder of the group. Instead, an Aer Arann twin-engined Islander aircraft was chartered to bring the remainder of the group to the island where a presentation was given to the group on the merits of the Cessna Caravan aircraft.
The groups swapped around on the return flight to allow those who had not flown in the Cessna to return in it, with the others flying back on the Aer Arann Islander.
However, the Cessna aircraft encountered difficulty as it reached the mainland.
Clifden hotelier Brian Hughes yesterday told Galway West coroner Dr Ciarán McLoughlin of the fear and hysteria which broke out when they knew they were in difficulty.
As they approached the Inverin airport, the stalled warning sounded in the aircraft and the tail started to shake.
“There was fear and hysteria and after that I remember no more,” said Mr Hughes.
Another passenger on board the seven-minute flight to the mainland, Clifden developer Martin Acton, said that barely a minute after boarding the Cessna he had become anxious and nervous, even though he had flown hundreds of times.
Mr Acton said he thought there were too many people on the aircraft and he did not like the sound of the engine.
It had “a lot of problems” taking off and he felt the aircraft did not have enough power.
Air accident inspector Paddy Judge said there had been a significant wind shift of which the pilot appeared to be unaware and he had attempted to land downwind. The aircraft had hit a mound with its left wing and cartwheeled.
The pilot and one passenger had been killed and all other passengers had been seriously injured.