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TWO ADLINGTON brothers who were first on the scene at the weekend’s fatal helicopter crash have told of the horrifying moment they heard it go down.

Experienced pilot and businessman Tony Sullivan was killed when his helicopter plummeted to the ground near Harrop Green Farm, in Adlington.

The father-of-four, 69, from Woodford, near Stockport, went down shortly before 3.30pm on Sunday, November 15.

Emergency services were called by the owner of the farm, Phillip Wainwright, after he and his two sons, George and Albert, said they heard a whirring sound overhead followed by a loud thud.

George, 21, who was working on the farm at the time, drove down to the scene of the crash on his quad bike with his brother.

He said: "I was in the yard with the cows when I heard a funny noise. It sounded like a helicopter, but as though the engine was struggling.

"We never saw it we just heard a loud thud, so we got on the quad bike to go and find out what it was.

"We drove about a quarter of a mile when we came across a helicopter on its side in a neighbour’s field.

"We shouted towards him to see if he was okay.

"But we didn’t get anything back.

"I told Albert to stay with the helicopter and told him not to go near it while I drove back to the house to tell my dad who called 999."

When the police and air crash investigation unit arrived they told the brothers to stay back while they worked at scene.

George added: "They tried to revive the pilot for quite a while afterwards and we stayed while they asked us questions."

Five ambulances were sent to the farm but Mr Sullivan, an experienced engineer and helicopter pilot, was pronounced dead at the scene.

An investigation into the cause of the crash has been launched by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

Other witnesses reported seeing the aircraft before it crashed.

One resident of Rushmere Close, Adlington, said they often see helicopters flying above the fields near her home.

She said: "My husband was in the garden near the field and I was standing at the patio doors when the helicopter hovered above the house.

"At that point my husband said ‘something’s wrong’. We then heard a funny noise and then the helicopter just went down sideways really quickly through the trees.

"It didn’t make a bang when it landed, just a thud – then there was silence." Zoe Aspinall, of White Hall Farm, on Holehouse Lane, Adlington, who saw the helicopter before it came down, said: "From the way the aircraft was flying it looked like it was in distress.

"It then swooped down to the ground in our field and then took off again.

"The next thing we knew it had disappeared behind some trees. We thought it had landed but it had obviously crashed."

Cheshire Police said Mr Sullivan was well-known in local business circles and also as a tireless charity worker.

In addition to being a trustee of Cliff College, an Evangelical Bible college in Derbyshire, he established a men’s Christian group, meeting regularly at the Deanwater Hotel in Woodford.

A statement issued by Cheshire Police on behalf of his family, said he leaves behind his "beloved" wife, Gerry, and four children, Paul, Clare, Charlie and Camilla. An investigation into the cause has been launched by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch.