Pilot's body taken from wreckage of mid-air crash that claimed five lives

The pilot of the light aircraft, which collided with a Cessna 402 as dozens of families on a day out at a country park looked on, was removed from the crash site.

Efforts were turning to the recovery of the four occupants of the Cessna, which came down in nearby woodland just after 11.30am yesterday.

Specialist search teams were preparing to scour the corn fields surrounding the light aircraft crash site.

Wreckage: Parts of a plane litter the ground at the crash site near Coventry

Distraught: Mourners visited the scene today to lay flowers

Teams from the Air Accidents Investigations Branch (AAIB), the RAF and specialist police search teams will spend this afternoon searching the site for evidence, while other teams continue to recover the bodies - two men and two women - from the Cessna wreckage.

Police investigating the crash have said the recovery of the bodies will be a lengthy procedure and that they are not treating the mid-air collision as suspicious.

They said the recovery operation would take some time because the plane had crashed in thick woodland which was difficult to access.

Det Supt Adrian McGee said: 'We would like to thank everyone who has come forward with witness accounts so far. We are very grateful for their assistance and will be contacting them later today.'

The AAIB is leading the inquiry into what caused the crash.

Search: Police check land for any remnants of the planes

Some of the wreckage of the air crash lies in a field in Coventry

Both aircraft came down towards the front of Coombe Abbey Country Park, in Brinklow, Warwickshire, a historic luxury hotel, on either side of a nearby wood.

The pilot of the Cessna 402, understood to be a man, has been praised for trying to steer the plane to safety.

Eyewitness Malcolm Collins, from Daventry, Northamptonshire, said the pilot managed to gain control of the twin-engined Cessna before it eventually plunged into trees.

He said: 'The pilot did absolutely brilliantly to recover it. When it first happened it looked like the plane would go straight down but the pilot recovered it and seemed to be in control of it. Then it tipped and came down suddenly.'

All four people on board the Cessna 402 were employees of specialist survey company Reconnaissance Ventures Ltd (RVL) and were confirmed dead at the scene.

The pilot of the light aircraft, believed to be a microlight, was also pronounced dead.

The Cessna was carrying out an aerial survey for a private company when the crash happened.

Desperate: Rescuers searched for any survivors but all five died in the crash

Colin Dennis, managing director of Coventry-based RVL, said the plane was coming in to land at Coventry Airport when it collided with the light aircraft.

He said: 'It (the aircraft) had been taking an entirely routine flight and was on a perfectly normal approach to land at Coventry. It was approximately two miles from the runway.

'We believe it had been cleared to land by Coventry Airport air traffic control when it was in collision with a smaller single engine light aircraft, which was also hoping to land at Coventry.'

Mick Leach, group manager for Rugby fire station, described the light aircraft as disintegrating upon impact.

He said: 'When I arrived here there was a lot of bystanders indicating that a collision had occurred.

'A search took place and we did locate two scenes of wreckage, one towards Coventry and one in Brandon Wood, approximately one mile apart.'

Specialist search and rescue teams, along with 30 officers from Warwickshire Police, worked at the scene yesterday.

Det Supt McGee said: 'We are conducting a joint investigation with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch and Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service to try to find out what has happened.

'There are two scenes and they are difficult to get to. We are appealing for anyone who witnessed the crash to get in touch.'

Coventry Airport was shut following the mid-air crash

Mr Dennis said he had been in touch with the families of the victims and said they were coping 'as you would expect'.

He said it was still unclear which employee was flying the Cessna 402, a plane about 15 years old which had recently been refitted.

He said the aircraft was 'better than new' after its makeover and was fitted with new equipment.

Mr Dennis said he did not want to name the victims or give their ages until their bodies had been recovered and formally identified.

An eyewitness described how the pilot of the Cessna 402 managed to avoid hitting a housing estate before crashing into trees.

Julie Hall, who was working on a farm at the time, told the Coventry Telegraph: 'We looked up and it looked like lots of confetti falling out of the sky.

'A twin-engined plane then came toward us, falling all the time. It was going to hit us or could have gone on to the housing estate in Binley by Morrisons.

'But I think the pilot must have realised what was going to happen, because the plane then banked very, very sharply - like they do in those acrobatic displays.'

Loved-ones travelled to the crash site today. Four people in a red Ford Fiesta arrived just after 11.30am carrying bunches of flowers.

Another group of three women and two small children, thought to be family members, looked visibly upset as they arrived with their own tributes.

Coombe Abbey Hotel was a Cistercian monastery but is now an 83-bedroom luxury hotel

Paul Harwood, head of human resources at Coventry Airport, said both aircraft operated out of the airport.

He said the airport staff and its tenants were a close knit community but added that he did not know the names of those involved in the crash.

He said: 'It's sad, especially in the sense that they operated out of Coventry, which is a small community and we all know most of the people.

'Although they have not been named, when they are named I suspect we will find that we know them. Our condolences go out to not just the families but also their work colleagues.'

He said Coventry Airport was working with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch and police as part of their investigation.

Mr Dennis, said the employees on board the Cessna consisted of three fully qualified commercial pilots and one engineer.

He said the main pilot and the co-pilot were sat in the front of the aircraft with the third pilot, who was helping to gather data on this occasion, and the engineer positioned in the rear.

He said: 'It's more normal to have two pilots and one operator but sometimes it's helpful to have a second person to assist and quite often pilots go along to help out if they are free.'