Two men killed as light plane crashes into hill in heavy rain

TWO men died yesterday when a light aircraft crashed i nto a Scottish hillside during poor weather.

Air traffic controllers l ost contact with the plane, which had been due to arrive at Dundee Airport at noon, and a massive search began.

But last night, Police Scotland confirmed wreckage had been found in rural Perthshire and that the two men travelling in the plane had died.

Police, the Coastguard, lifeboats and the RAF had all made a desperate bid to locate the aircraft, which was believed to have been en route from Inverness and making its approach to land when it went off radar. The plane was later found about ten miles west of Dundee Airport close to the Perthshire village of Abernyte.

Air traffic controllers had lost contact with it about four miles west of the airport.

It is understood the pilot had radioed for permission to land at Dundee before the plane lost contact with the tower. When it failed to land, the alarm was raised.

Uniformed police officers yesterday stood guard at the end of a farm track, between Abernyte and Kinnaird, where the plane is understood to have come down.

Weather in the area was extremely poor with heavy rain when the plane went missing, as well as low cloud, reduced visibility and winds gusting up to 35mph.

Last night, a police statement said: ‘Police Scotland can confirm that the wreckage of a light aircraft has been found in the Abernyte area near Dundee. The two male occupants of the aircraft have been found to be deceased.’

Police are i nvestigating the incident and a report will be sent to the procurator fiscal.

Officers commandeered the car park at the Scottish Antiques & Arts Centre in Abernyte to establish a base for their operations and a police command unit, Coastguard and a mountain rescue team were established there.

Inspector Marc Lorente, Police Scotland incident officer for the crash, said at the scene: ‘Wreckage of a light aircraft has been found. The terrain is quite bad, as are the weather conditions.

‘ It i s misty and the area is inaccessible. We started at the river and the parameters later focused up to here.

‘Light aircraft are completely different from commercial aircraft – they’re not tracked in the same way. It is a massive operation and we’ll be here for a considerable time.’

The area of last contact, west of Dundee Airport, includes the far western edges of the city and the Carse of Gowrie, the area running along the River Tay between Dundee and Perth.

Residents of the Carse said they were used to aircraft overhead.

Claire Smyth, 30, said: ‘ The weather has been brutal – rain pouring and high winds.’

Lifeboat crews from Broughty Ferry and Montrose and a Coastguard helicopter from Inverness were called out.

Dundee Airport operates a maximum of only two scheduled services a day – on Flybe’s Dundee to London Stansted route – but is a popular base for light aircraft enthusiasts.

A training school, Tayside Aviation, also operates from the site.

‘Terrain is bad, as is the weather’