Three generations of the same family involved in plane crash

Caernarfon Airport plane crash: Three generations of same family involved

An investigation has begun into why the light aircraft crashed and landed on its roof on Sunday.

A man who died after a plane crashed at Caernarfon Airport has been named.

Iain Nuttall, 37, from Blackburn, Lancashire, died when the light aircraft came down and landed on its roof on Sunday at the Gwynedd airport.

The lorry driver's five-year-old son and the boy's grandfather, who was piloting the plane, remain in a "serious" and "critical" condition.

The RAF will recover the wreckage before taking it to Farnborough for detailed investigations.

The family are believed to have planned a flight from Blackpool to Caernarfon and Welshpool, then back to Blackpool.

The boy suffered serious head injuries and his 62-year-old grandfather is being treated at a specialist hospital unit, say police.

Officers said they were not in a position to identify the man who was pronounced dead at the scene.

A post-mortem examination is due to be carried out on Wednesday.

The aircraft flipped onto its roof on a runway at Dinas Dinlle, and experts from the Department of Transport's Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) were sent to the scene on Sunday to start a preliminary inquiry.

They were on site from about 08:00 BST on Monday gathering evidence before the Piper Cherokee four-seater plane is taken away for detailed analysis.

Investigators have been seen examining trees at a holiday park next to the airfield after reports that the plane clipped branches on its approach to land.

Tree foliage and fresh branch debris are clearly visible on a track that runs between the perimeter of the airfield and the Morfa Lodge park.

The plane came to rest on its roof only metres from the airfield fence, some distance short of the runway.

Police have appealed for witnesses who saw the plane as it approached the runway to get in touch.

Gwawr Bell was staying at the caravan park next to the airfield with her husband and children and another family when they saw the aircraft clip trees.

"I heard this plane come over and then there was a big bang, nothing, and then another big bang," she told BBC Radio Cymru's Post Cyntaf.

"My husband and the children had seen this little aeroplane come in and it clipped some trees, just caught the bottom of the aeroplane on the trees and then the plane came down on the other side of the hedge.

"Someone told us that the pilot had come out so we thought everything was ok.

The plane itself came to rest on its roof only metres from the airfield fence

"Then we heard the sirens and I don't know how many fire engines came, and we realised it must be worse that we thought."

Robert Jones, a member of the Mona Flying Club and a regular visitor to the airport, said: "Every airfield gets the odd small accident but I can't remember anyone being injured in Caernarfon (Airport) in the quarter of a century I've flown in and out of there."

Anyone with any information about the crash is asked to contact North Wales Police on 101.