The pilot of a light aircraft became "disorientated" and lost control of his plane after entering cloud prior to crashing into the ground at a cricket field in Galway in September 2005, an investigation has concluded.
The Air Accident Investigation Unit's report into the crash in which two Belgian nationals were killed says the pilot overloaded the aircraft to such a degree that the starboard wing failed while attempting to recover from a high speed spinning dive.
Pilot Jean Marie Derkenne (56) and his passenger, Jean Marie Lembourg (54), died when their plane crashed at Lydican, Oranmore, only minutes after taking off from Galway airport on September 19th last year.
The AAIU's report said: "Once the wing had failed, total control of the aircraft was lost and the aircraft plummeted to earth." It concluded the aircraft had no pre-existing defects either in the structure of the wing or the flying control system.
There was no evidence found to support the possibility of a technical malfunction prior to the pilot losing control of the aircraft. Equally no evidence was found of atmospheric turbulence or any factor requiring the pilot to carry out an evasive manoeuvre.
The two men had flown in from Belgium two days earlier to spend the weekend fishing.
The air traffic controller at Galway airport said that the pilot had filed a flight plan for a flight to Belgium an hour before they took off at 12.35pm on the day of the crash.
The pilot was supposed to maintain radio contact for 10 miles, but the control tower had no further contact from the aircraft and were later informed by Shannon airport of a possible crash at Lydican, Oranmore.
The report said two eyewitnesses located in the vicinity of the accident site, heard the aircraft flying above cloud, shortly before seeing the aircraft spin out of cloud with a significant portion of its starboard wing missing.