A pilot reported low fuel pressure and an engine alternator problem minutes before he died in a plane crash in Co Waterford, according to a preliminary report into the incident.
He was the sole occupant of the small Vulcanair P68 plane when it crashed at Lisselan near Tramore on 20 November.
The plane, which had been issued with a certificate of airworthiness by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) one month earlier, had been purchased from a UK-based firm by a company in Slovenia.
It had been transported from Liverpool to Sligo where it was collected by the pilot, who was a flying instructor who had flown in from Germany.
The pilot was to take the plane to Ljubljana, Slovenia on a multi-sector trip.
The crash happened on the sector between Sligo and Beziers Cap d'Agde Airport in France.
The flight was to take just under five hours.
At around 12.37pm, Shannon Airport advised that the aircraft, registered EI-HPY, was experiencing difficulties and intended to divert to Waterford.
According to a preliminary report by the Air Accident Investigation Unit, the pilot had declared an emergency around having low fuel pressure and an alternator issue with an engine.
The pilot requested a direct approach from Waterford because his left alternator was "off" and his left engine fuel pressure was "low".
He was cleared to enter the zone and acknowledged he had the airfield in sight and intended to make a normal landing despite reduced power.
The pilot further reported the problem with the alternator, that the fuel pressure on the left engine was low and said that if he advanced the throttle on the left engine it was "shaking".
Closer to the airport, he said he would "make a left circle".
An eyewitness in the terminal building made a short mobile phone video recording of EI-HPY after the approach was abandoned.
The footage appears to show the plane in a gentle left turn away from the runway.
The wings are seen to level momentarily before the aircraft enters a steep turn to the left, quickly loses altitude and disappears from view.
The plane "crashed" into a farm field west of the runway, approximately seven seconds after its initial entry into the steep turn to the left.
The pilot died in the crash and there was no fire.
The report states the plane "appeared to have impacted the ground on an easterly heading in an extreme nose-down attitude".
Both wings were badly damaged and the left engine, with the propeller attached, had separated from its mountings while the propeller blades exhibited significant bending damage.
The right engine remained attached but its propeller blades also exhibited significant bending damage and substantial curling at the tips.
The fuselage fractured behind the cabin and had folded back over the cabin roof.
The fuel tanks had ruptured and a smell of fuel was evident during the site investigation.
The wreckage was recovered to the Air Accident Investigation Unit’s facility at Gormanston, Co Meath.
Initial examinations showed one spark plug was not producing a spark and that the fuel pump was not performing to specification.
However, both the pump and spark plug had been damaged in the crash.
A final report will be published at a later date.
