The wreckage of a privately owned twin engine aircraft that crashed in Co Waterford on Thursday killing its sole occupant has been taken away for examination.
Investigators with the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) completed an “initial examination” at the site of the plane crash on Thursday night.
They returned to the scene at Lisselan, near Tramore on Friday morning to move the wreckage to an examination site at Gormanstown in Co Meath.
The body of the deceased, the only person on board, was taken to the mortuary at University Hospital Waterford.
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Four AAIU inspectors were immediately deployed to the crash site when the alarm was raised at lunchtime on Thursday.
The Vulcanair P68C plane crashed at about 12.50pm while approaching Waterford Airport.
It is understood that the small twin-engine plane was travelling from Sligo to Beziers in southern France when it experienced engine trouble. It turned towards Waterford Airport in an attempt to make an emergency landing.
Waterford City and County Fire Services, the National Ambulance Service and gardaí attended the scene.
Local Sinn Féin Cllr Jim Griffin was in the area when the crash occurred.
“The emergency services were on the scene very quickly. You could see them coming from the Tramore direction and the Dunmore east direction. I could hear [the Coastguard helicopter] Rescue 117 starting up in the airport,” he told The Irish Times.
“The council staff were also manning roads in cold conditions last night telling motorists about detours.”
Cllr Griffin, a Coastguard volunteer, said it was concerning that a plane crashed so close to homes and businesses.
“It really could have been a different scenario. It is a blessing nothing else happened. Our thoughts are with the family of the dead man. I was in work in Waterford city this morning and it was all people were talking about.”
He added that the incident had served as a reminder of previous aviation tragedies in the area. In particular, Cllr Griffin recalled the Dauphin helicopter crash in 1999 when a search and rescue helicopter operated by the Irish Air Corps crashed in to the sand dunes in Tramore. All four crew on board were killed.
Retired Air Corps general Kevin Byrne told RTE’s Morning Ireland programme that the cause of the crash will be determined by the on board.
“I have every faith that they will come up with some kind of report within 30 days and the final report then probably takes about a year,” he said.
“It will be hard work. But they are extremely good and experienced people and I think they will get to the analysis in the final result.
“They will look at the impact damage. They have drones now available and they have got other methods of recording the field debris, in other words, what happened with the aircraft.”
