Plane hit trees in fatal Mid Wales crash

The manager of an airport in Mid Wales died when the plane he was in hit trees covered by cloud on the upper slopes of a mountain, accident investigators said today.

Pilot Steve Carr and his passenger, Welshpool airport manager Bob Jones, who was also a pilot, would have been aware of their proximity to Long Mountain on the Shropshire/Welsh border, the report said.

But they 'may have thought they had cleared the high ground', the report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch added.

The report said it was unlikely that the pilots would have deliberately entered the cloud 'but may have misjudged their height above it and inadvertently entered the top of the cloud, which was obscuring trees'.

The Piper PA plane struck the top of the trees on the upper slope of Long Mountain and crashed on the morning of January 18. The accident happened near Mid Wales Airport in Welshpool, founded by Mr Jones.

The airport has an annual air show which has now been named the Bob Jones Memorial Air Show.

Mr Carr, 55, from Ruthin, North Wales, who had flown Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s, was carrying out the flight to re-familiarise himself with the Piper PA, which he had not flown since November 1998.

It took off from Welshpool and was due to land there.

Both pilots were married with children.

The crash and deaths shocked Welshpool where Mr Jones, 60, was a popular and respected figure.

More than 600 people went to a thanksgiving service while aircraft carried out a fly-past before the funeral.

During the funeral eulogy, the congregation heard how Mr Jones had been obsessed with aircraft and flying since he was a child.

Mourners were also told how, in later life, he created a grass strip on his dairy farm, which he eventually transformed into an airport.

There were also tales of actor Harrison Ford and members of the royal family all visiting the airport.

The crew of Wales Air Ambulance formed a guard of honour at the church.

See also:

• Tributes for Welshpool plane crash victims

• Welshpool airport boss victim of plane crash horror

• Two killed as plane crashes on mountain