Witness describes final seconds of doomed Colin McRae helicopter flight

David Lowry told an inquiry into the accident that he recognised the helicopter as McRae's and he noticed it approaching his Lanark home using a different route from usual.

McRae, 39, had been visiting a friend in the area when his helicopter went down in the grounds of his home on 15 September, 2007.

McRae, his five-year-old son Johnny, his school friend Ben Porcelli, six, and McRae's friend Graeme Duncan, 37, died in the crash.

Mr Lowry, 52, of Cartland, Lanark, told a fatal accident inquiry at Lanark Sheriff Court that he was out feeding his cattle when he saw the aircraft come overhead.

He said it veered to the right and then sharply to the left before it went into a valley and he lost sight of it.

He said: "I realised the helicopter didn't come out of the valley again.

"On glancing across the valley as I came out of the field, I could see what appeared to be part of the helicopter rotor arm spiral up into the sky.

"I realised then that something tragic had happened."

Mr Lowry, who said he rented land from the motorsport star's family, added: "As the rotor arm spiralled up in the air I could see it glisten in the sun against the dark green trees."

The witness, giving evidence on the second day of the inquiry, said he did not hear any irregular engine noise when the helicopter went past, and the height and speed of the craft were normal.

But he said it was not taking its regular flight path to McRae's home at Jerviswood House.

Iain Ross, 49, whose home overlooks Jerviswood House, said when he was out working in his garden he saw the helicopter approaching from a different direction than normal and flying lower than usual.

He said its flight path was "pretty straight" and denied saying to police that it had appeared to him that McRae was giving his passengers a "white-knuckle ride".

The statement he gave to police following the accident, read to the inquiry, said: "My own thoughts were that he must have been showing off to someone, giving them a white-knuckle ride."

Mr Ross said he did not say this to officers and that he used the phrase only in an informal and general discussion about helicopters.

Campbell Roy, McRae's former business manager who said he had flown with him hundreds of times, said he never saw him show off while operating his helicopter.

Mr Roy, from Howwood, Renfrewshire, who was at one time McRae's co-driver, said he carried out mechanical checks and filled in log sheets as a matter of routine.

He said: "I had the utmost confidence in his flying abilities."

He added: "He seemed to be at one with machinery and comfortable in that environment."

The witness was asked briefly by Paul McBride, representing the McRae family, about helicopter licences.A report published by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said McRae did not have a valid licence at the time of the crash.

Mr Roy said: "I was aware through conversations that he was under the impression - wrong as it turned out - that he had a lifetime licence."

The inquiry, which is sitting before Sheriff Nikola Stewart, continues.