Plane fell spinning from the sky, inquest is told
Two men died when the microlight they were in went out of control and fell spinning from the sky into a field in Mid Wales.
Witnesses told an inquest how the plane spluttered and coughed before the engine cut out over Builth Wells.
Pilot Nick Jefferies, 54, and his son's friend Scott Penlington, 25, from Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, died at the scene of the crash at Cwm Bach, on September 18, 2016.
Mr Jefferies had given One Direction star, Harry Styles, a flying lesson, before the tragedy.
Andrew Barkley, senior coroner for South and Mid Wales, said Mr Jefferies gained his pilot's licence in 2014, flew regularly and was an experienced pilot.
On September 18 he set out to fly to Swansea to meet his son, Mr Barkley said.
Rebecca Fleck, on whose family farm the plane crashed, said she had been walking with four friends when she saw a small plane in the sky.
"I remember thinking it was in steep climb. It was silhouetted against the sky, its nose was up," she said.
"The next time I looked it had started to come down.
"There was no engine noise, it was spinning like a seed.
"One of its wings was bent back. I hoped it was an aerobatic display or a remote controlled plane, although I knew it wasn't."
She said it disappeared from view and then they heard a thud.
They rang 999 and then walked back along the lane towards the crash. When they got their the emergency services had already arrived.
Some of the women had remarked that before it started spinning down the plane sounded like it needed to change gear.
Peter Bowen was in his back garden when he noticed it.
He said: "The aircraft was spluttering, it seemed to have a problem with its engine.
"Then it went completely vertical, its wings had snapped and there was no way it was going to pull out of that dive."
Former pilot, Duncan Lee, from Cwm Bach, also saw the plane.
"The engine was spluttering, as it it was starved of gas," he said.
"Then it was falling from the sky as I watched it. It took six to eight seconds before it went out of my view."
The hearing, which is set to hear expert evidence from the Air Accident Investigation Bureau is expected to end on Thursday.
