Wind southerly 3-4, thick fog with visablity 10-25 yards.
A pilot and his wife escaped uninjured after crash landing their light aircraft in hills near Cregneash in thick fog. Their aircraft, a Piper Malibu Mirage, N92562, was en route to Ronaldsway airport on the Island from Portugal via a stopver at Huddersfield, Yorkshire to pick up their dog , when the drama happened at 5.35 pm.
They were on final approach to the Airport when 3 miles out they were lost from radar. Air traffic control (ATC) commenced a full scale turn out of emergency services with Liverpool Coastguard co-ordinating both the sea and ground search. Local Coastguard units from Port Erin and Castletown, along with Port St Mary all weather and inshore lifeboats, Port Erin Lifeboat and Fire brigade units were scrambled to search the high ground around Cregneash as well as the surrounding sea area. In addition a Seaking HAR3 helicopter from 22 squadron "C" flight RAF Valley, North Wales was also tasked to assist and the fisheries research vessel, Roagan, which was heading for its home port of Port St Mary, also diverted to assist the sea search.
At about 6.15 pm the pilot telephoned ATC to say they were well and that there were no casualties. The couple and their dog had walked away from their eight seater aircraft after it had skidded up a steep field for 100 yards before stopping in gorse (and just before a stone wall). They had then walked a quarter of a mile to Cregneash village to a public payphone.
The aircraft was aproximately 400-500 feet below its approach path when it had crashed into the hill side at Cronk y Watch, just above the Chasms.
All SAR units were stood down except the fire brigade which went to the crash site to ensure there was no fire risk. Police and Coastguards guarded the site over night until an investigator from the Air Accident Branch of the UK Department of Transport had examined the crash site and aircraft the next day.
Locally owned Piper Malibu Mirage a few days after crashing
Copyright photograph Brian Kelly