A plane carrying an adventurous holidaymaker from Macclesfield crashed in Nepal after losing power moments after take-off, an inquest heard.
A total of 16 passengers and three crew were killed when the Sita Air Dornier 228 plane came down near Kathmandu- Tribhuvan airport in September, 2012.
Among them was retired teacher Raymond Eagle, 58, a support worker at the Macclesfield Supported Living Network on the Weston estate,
The inquest heard keener fell runner Mr Eagle, a member of Wilmslow Running Club and who lived on West Bond Street was at the ‘peak of his fitness’ and had been planning for the trip to the Everest base camp for months.
The hearing was told the plane began veering to the left due to a lack of power from one of the aircraft’s engines immediately after it took off at around 6:30am local time.
This meant the plane flew away from the runaway and removed the possibility of the flight being aborted.
The aircraft only ever reached a height of 100 feet before stalling and crashing and bursting into flames seconds later in Thimi, Bhaktapur in September 2012.
The exact reason for the tragedy is still uncertain, investigators said.
It was initially believed a bird striking the plane’s propeller may have been the cause of the tragedy.
In his last conversation picked up on the plane’s cockpit recorded he the pilot was asked by air traffic control: ‘Any technical?’ to with the 42 year-old pilot’s reply was intelligible other than the words ‘“..due bird hit.”
However Senior Coroner for Cheshire Nicholas Rheinberg, hearing the case at Warrington Town Hall, ruled there the incident was of ‘no mechanical consequence.’
Investigators said it was possible the pilot set one of the engines to ‘idle’ as a reaction to the bird hit, though there was no evidence to confirm that.
He did find that the plane was heavier than it should have been due to extra bags being allowed on board.
He now intends to write the trip’s organisers Explore Worldwide Ltd asking them to warn passengers about the danger of exceeding baggage limits in their brochures.
After evidence from members of the Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), Mr Rheinberg the 24 year-old co-pilot has recorded that take-off speed had been achieved too early which he said could have been a ‘potentially critical mistake.’
The hearing was also told there was only one simulator for the aircraft in the world and that the pilots would have been faced with a situation they had never trained for.
However, the coroner said: ‘It is easy to forget the desperately short time there was to take action.’
Mr Rheinberg recorded a Narrative verdict after the eight hour hearing at Warrington Town Hall which concluded each of the seven British passengers ‘died as a result of an accident.’
Their cause of death was said to be multiple injuries all over the body.
He said he now intends to write to tourist agency ABTA to draw their attention to the fact that some tour operators are still using Nepalese airlines despite them blacklisted by the European Union.
Speaking after the hearing, Mr Eagle’s brother Andrew said: “An inquest isn’t there to blame but in this instance I think it would be hard apportion blame to anyone.
“It is just a tragic set of circumstances.
“Ray didn’t have a wife or children.
“But he was a very popular and well-loved man who touched many people’s lives.
“That much was obvious from how many people attended his funeral.”
