Rudder from death crash plane under examination

INVESTIGATORS are examining the rudder of the plane which crashed in Florida killing a brother and sister from the Lothians.

Student pilot Carly Beattie, 21, from Penicuik, was flying the Cessna 152 when it plunged into a swampy, wooded area near Blue Cypress Lake last week, killing her and her 24-year-old brother, Daniel.

A preliminary report into the crash by the US's National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) states that initial investigations will focus on the plane's rudder horn, a part attached to the tail which controls direction. It was found to be bent and hanging off and has been taken away for analysis.

The plane's wings were intact but had been crushed and the engine and part of the controls had been displaced. Investigators say it could take up to 18 months before an exact cause of the accident is determined.

Carly, a former pupil at St George's girls school in Edinburgh, was in the US as part of her degree course in Air Transport with Commercial Pilot Training at Buckinghamshire New University.

Her parents Tom, 54, and Elaine, 52, and her brother had gone to the US to visit her.

The report reads: "Examination of the crash site showed the airplane was in a steep nose down attitude with the fuselage displaced to the right. Both wings remained attached to the fuselage and were observed to have leading edge crushing.

"The rudder cables were observed attached to the rudder pedals and to the rudder horn.

"However the rudder horn was observed bent and separated just aft of the rudder stop bumper. The rudder horn was retained by the Safety Board for metallurgical examination."

The report confirms that Carly had filed no flight plan and that there were no witnesses to the accident. It also details the rescue mission which swung into operation after the plane failed to return as planned at 2pm last Thursday.

The Cessna's flight path was discovered using radar data and an aircraft from the Civil Air Patrol traced its route to the crash site. Firefighters and police had to reach it on foot through dense woodland and swamp as there was no road access.

The Beatties had chartered the plane from a firm called Space Coast Aviation at Merritt Island Airport at around 10am on Thursday, scheduled for a three-hour flight.

Sprinter Carly had hoped to compete in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Following the deaths, family friend George Allan, a pharmacist, said: "I have known Tom all my life.

"Daniel and Carly were just wonderful kids. It's like losing one of your own and I do not know how Tom and Elaine are coping. It's an awful tragedy."