Cork crash survivors recall plane’s final moments

Their statements were recorded in a report by Ireland’s Air Accident Investigations Unit (AAIU), which determined that the probable cause of the crash was that the pilots lost control of the aircraft during an aborted landing.

Six people died when the aircraft, which had been travelling from Belfast to Cork, crashed in fog after failing to land on its third attempt in February 2011.

Witness statements from five of the six survivors, including Mr Wilson, were detailed anonymously within the AAIU report.

One passenger said: “I do remember looking out and the ground was just feet from below us and it was grass, it was definitely not tarmac.”

A second passenger recalled: “We came through the cloud or fog . We were probably no more than about 30ft off the ground. I was looking out the window, I sensed that we pulled up and banked hard to the right. As we banked, the wing I was sitting next to, the tip of the wing hit.”

A third passenger said: “I just remember feeling this huge shift to the right.”

A fourth added: “It felt like the plane had gone at a 90 degree angle and was facing towards the ground.”

A fifth passenger said it felt like a normal landing before everything crumpled, while a sixth survivor had no memory of the approach or the crash.