Tragedy of air crash disaster

Ryan Birch is believed to have been unconscious when the Piper Cherokee light aircraft was destroyed by fire.

Witnesses today described the "carnage" when the plane carrying Ryan and his 52-year-old father Tony came crashed into a field shortly after take-off close to the Isle of Wight Airport.

Also killed in the crash were pilot Martin Rhodes, aged 48, of Sneyd Green, Stoke-on-Trent, and another passenger, Simon Marshall, 51, of Wentworth Drive, Lichfield. The plane had left Tatenhill airfield, Staffordshire, earlier that day and had stopped at the Isle of Wight on its way to Pontivy, Brittany.

An inquest into the deaths, held at Newport today, heard that Codsall High School Ryan was still alive when the plane hit the ground. The other three men died of internal injuries suffered in the impact of the crash.

Eyewitness Robert Groom heard the plane's engine stall and it smash to the ground. He told the inquest how he desperately tried to rescue one man but realised he was already dead.

Mr Groom, who was forced back when the plane caught fire, said of Ryan: "I could hear moaning a little bit and he opened his eyes but then his eyes closed and he went completely silent."

Mr Birch, a microlite instructor, and his Ryan were travelling to Brittany to join Tony's wife Lesley. The couple's other son Craig, aged 19, was at home.

He had stayed behind to travel with Ryan, who had wanted to take part in a wakeboard watersports event at Chasewater in Burntwood.

Another eyewitness and keen aircraft enthusiast Raymond Trueman today described how the plane did not rise fast enough from the runway and almost clipped trees as it took off.

Pc Jeremy Evans, the first officer on the scene, said: "The scene was one of complete carnage."

The inquest heard Mr Marshall had purchased the plane from from Mr Rhodes and that the pair had agreed to fly Mr Birch and Ryan to France.

The inquest continues.