Four people have died after a private jet crash landed in a car auction site and burst into flames as prepared for landing on a nearby runway.
The Phenom 300 jet which was coming into land from Milan when the aircraft went down at Blackbushe Airport in Hampshire.
A dark plume of black smoke could be seen twisting into the sky, while an orange-red ball of fire raged below following yesterday's incident.
The fire appeared to be in the middle of a car park, with vehicles lined up for inspection at the auction site based at the airport.
Debris from the jet could be seen strewn among the dozens of severely damaged cars.
Hampshire Police's acting chief inspector Olga Venner said: "Four people on board, including the pilot, but sadly, there were no survivors.
"No-one on the ground has been injured and we would urge anyone with any information, including pictures or videos, to contact 101."
Police have launched a joint investigation with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and the airfield was shut last night.
In a statement, an airport spokesman said: "Blackbushe Airport confirmed that a Phenom 300 jet with four persons on board crashed near the end of the runway around 3.09pm while attempting to make a landing.
"The scene was attended by Blackbushe Fire and Rescue within minutes, followed by Hampshire fire, police and ambulance units. Emergency services are currently controlling the scene."
Robert Belcher, a local aviation enthusiast, said he was driving home when he saw a plume of black smoke coming from the site.
He said: "I was passing the airport on my way home and there was a big column of smoke in the air.
"The fire service had closed the road behind me.
"I could see the plume of smoke waving from about five miles away and was hoping it was just a car fire rather than an aircraft accident."
Mr Belcher said he was "shocked" when he discovered that a jet had crashed.
He added: "Apparently the aircraft was landing and just didn't stop.
"At the end of the runway there is a car park because the airport is used for car auctions and it's gone into there.
"I assumed it was cars on fire in the auction yard.
"Local people have said that it was this aircraft which is registered in Saudi Arabia.
"It's been a regular visitor to the airport for a few months.
"The aircraft would hold six people, it's a small jet."
Andrew Thomas, who was paying for a car at the time of impact, said the plane "exploded".
"I saw it when it had just happened, and could see the plane and cars in flames," he told BBC Surrey. The plane nosedived into the cars and exploded on impact."
Local resident Daphne Knowles, 70, told GetSurrey: "I was in a field with the cattle and I heard an aircraft coming very very fast from behind me. The engines were screaming far too much and the aircraft was trying to land - I'm a glider pilot and I thought it's far too low to the ground."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel