Gran '˜could've been killed' after ice from plane crashed through her roof

A GRANDMOTHER had a chilling near miss - after ice is thought to have fallen from a plane and gauged a hole in her roof.

Rose Rendle, 81, was listening to radio commentary of the Hibs game on Saturday afternoon at her Cramond bungalow when she heard a crash from above.

Son William Rendle investigated to find slabs of ice and bits of tiles on her driveway - with a metre-wide gash on her slates.

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“If she’d been underneath that it would’ve killed her. But she’s survived bombs in the war so she can live through a chunk of ice,” said Mr Rendle, 58.

Rose Rendle with pieces of ice and tilesRose Rendle with pieces of ice and tiles
Rose Rendle with pieces of ice and tiles

Staff at Edinburgh Airport are now investigating and have vowed to visit Mrs Rendle in a bid to get to the bottom of the scare.

Mrs Randle has lived in her terraced bungalow alone since her husband died in 2013 and uses a white board to communicate after being struck dumb by motor neurone disease.

The former cleaner was listening to Hibs’ one-nil win over St Mirren on the radio when she heard a thud from above.

“My sisters, grandchildren and I take turns to take care of her and I went around at about 7pm,” said Mr Rendle.

“I noticed ice on the pathway and I thought it was a bit weird - maybe somebody had been defrosted a freezer or something.

“I got in in the house and we were having a cup of tea later on and my mum told me she heard a massive bang about 4.30pm.

“So I went back out for a proper look around and there was a load of tiles so I thought something had hit the roof.”

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The offshore worker fetched a ladder from his Merchiston home and returned to his mother’s on Monday to survey the roof - only to be shocked at what he found.

“There was a hole in the roof about one metre by one metre. It might not have been that big a piece of ice but if it’d falled from 200 metres, it’d still cause damage.”

Grandmother-of-three Mrs Rendle moved to Cramond more than ten years ago with no previous near misses.

“There’ve never been any problems before,” said Mr Rendle. “She obviously knew the airport was there and has double glazing.

“I suppose there is more traffic now and I wonder if this type of thing happens more often but it just falls in a hedge or something.”

Mrs Rendle and her son are now waiting on a quote from a roffer to fix the damage while bits of a wooden beam have chipped off into her bath directly below the impact.

Mr Rendle has also lodged a complaint with the airport and has been told its community action group is looking into the matter.

Ice is known to form on aircraft when cruising in subzero temperatures at high altitude and chunks can break away and fall to the ground during descent into warmer air.

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Contrary to popular belief, modern aircraft dispose of toilet waste after landing - rather than while airborne.

But there have been reported incidents of faulty hose valves used to empty the aircraft leaking fluid which has frozen at altitude.

This usually results in discoloured ice and is commonly referred to as “blue ice.”

A spokesman for Edinburgh Airport said: “We have received Mr Rendle’s email and will be sending one of our community engagement team out to visit the property.”