Couple f lying to visit family killed as their private plane hits hillside
a MARRIED couple were killed in a light aircraft crash as they made a surprise visit to see family during the holiday weekend.
David and Margaret-ann Rous were on an Easter getaway when their private plane crashed into hills during bad weather in the scottish highlands.
The pair had arranged a secret visit using Mr Rous’s light aircraft to see his wife’s mother and sister on an island in the Inner Hebrides.
But when the couple failed to turn up at the island’s airstrip and radar contact could not be made with the plane, a search party was scrambled.
The wreckage of the plane and the couple’s bodies were found in hills in argyll six hours later, as aviation experts said the flight may have encountered poor visibility.
shocked residents on the island of Tiree paid tribute to the ‘wonderful’ Dr Rous, 37, who had been married to the 28-year- old structural engineer for three years.
The couple, who are understood to have been planning a family, can be seen revelling in married life in photographs posted online.
One poignant picture, posted only months before the crash, shows the smiling couple wearing headsets in a plane cockpit.
Dr Rous’s sister Johann yesterday described the GP as her ‘absolute rock’, and said learning about the crash led to ‘the hardest day of my life’.
Dr Rous met her husband when he visited Tiree, where she grew up, sev- eral years ago. The couple lived in a £260,000 semi- detached house in newport- on-Tay, across the river from Dundee where Dr Rous worked as a family doctor.
Dr John Holliday, Tiree’s local doctor for almost 30 years, said: ‘she captivated everyone that knew her. she became a much-loved GP in Dundee and I have no doubt that she was a wonderful doctor with her charm and great empathy.’
Paying tribute to Mr Rous, originally from gillingham in Kent, he said: ‘He was a really nice man and a very talented structural engineer with a bright professional career ahead of him. ‘Together they made a fine couple.’ The tragedy unfolded after the couple set off from Dundee airport in the single-engine Piper Cherokee plane, piloted by Mr Rous, on saturday.
Radar contact was lost at around 1.50pm as they flew over the remote Beinn nan Lus area of glen Kinglass.
Coastguard and Royal navy helicopters, as well as an air ambulance, were called, and found the wreckage at 8pm on the northern side of glen Kinglass, above Loch Etive.
The air accidents Investigation Branch is now examining possible causes of the crash.
Local aviation expert David Howitt said: ‘I have been taking weather readings here for 50 years, and on saturday the weather was very, very dubious. There was some very poor visibility.’
‘She captivated everyone’