WILLIAM TINNING and DAMIEN HENDERSON TWO adults and a child were feared dead last night after a private plane crashed near Oban Airport.
The wreckage of a light aircraft was discovered on a hillside at Bragleen Moore Farm, nine miles south of Oban in Argyll at around 3.35pm, Strathclyde Police said. The aircraft ditched on Monday, according to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, after losing radar contact mid-morning.
The plane is believed to have been a private aircraft which took off from Oban Airport but it was not known whether it was the same plane which failed to arrive at a small airfield in Essex on the same day.
Michael Rowland, airfield manager at Andrew's Field Flying Club in Great Saling, Essex, said that concerns had been raised with him yesterday over an aircraft that was expected to arrive at the airfield on Monday.
He said: "I understand that a wreckage has been found and we are waiting for its occupants and the plane to be identified. If it is as we fear then it's very important the families are notified first. Everyone is just waiting to hear."
Mr Rowland said there was no official flight plan registered with the flying club but that friends of the people flying the plane had raised concerns after it did not arrive on Monday.
Strathclyde Police officers were at the council-run airfield questioning staff last night. A track leading to the remote crash site near Loch Scammadale off the A816 Lochgilphead road was closed off by police.
The wreckage was reported to be scattered over a wide area on the slopes of 1436-ft Carn Dearg.
A spokeswoman for National Air Traffic Control Services said it had not provided a radar control service for the flight.
However, it is not unusual for private aircraft to fly without informing air traffic controllers of their whereabouts or destination if they are not flying through controlled airspace.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said a team of two investigators had been dispatched to the crash site.
There were unconfirmed reports last night which suggested the plane was a Piper Apache. Dave Whitelaw, chairman of the Connel Flying Club which operates out of Oban Airport, said: "I do not recognise the aircraft and I am not aware that there are any Piper Apaches based at Oban.
"It's definitely not any of our members. But it's a great shame and a great loss."
A coastguard helicopter from Stornoway was scrambled to the scene, but returned to base as police, fire and mountain rescue teams continued to search the crash site.
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