The names of the five victims of a mid-air crash near Coventry Airport are expected to be released today.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), which is leading the investigation, will also release details about its inquiry into the crash.

Five people were killed when a Cessna 402 hit a light aircraft near Coombe Abbey Country Park just after 11.30am on Sunday.

Post-mortem examinations will be carried out today and police expect to release the names of the victims once relatives have identified them.
The body of the light aircraft pilot was recovered on Sunday night, while the bodies of the other four were removed from the wreckage last night.

Carried in a white private ambulance, all four Cessna 402 crew members were taken from the crash site in Brinklow, Warwickshire, to the University Hospital in Walsgrave.

The families of the victims attended the scene, laying flowers at the edge of Brandon Wood, where the Cessna landed. The British Microlight Aircraft Association said the light aircraft involved in the crash was a home-built kit plane.

The association posted a statement on its website to confirm that the light aircraft was not a microlight, as had been reported.

Geoff Weighell, chief executive of the BMAA, said: "I have confirmed that the aircraft was not a microlight. It was a two seat home-built light aircraft from the LAA (Light Aircraft Association) fleet.

"Irrespective of aircraft type I would like to offer the condolences of all the BMAA membership to the families and friends of the pilots and passengers of the two aircraft."

Both the AAIB and police refused to comment on the type of light aircraft involved.

All four people on board the Cessna - three pilots and an engineer - were employees of specialist survey company Reconnaissance Ventures Ltd (RVL) and were working at the time of the crash.

Colin Dennis, managing director of the Coventry-based firm, said the plane had been taking an "entirely routine flight" and was making an approach to land at Coventry Airport when the collision happened.

Both aircraft came down towards the front of Coombe Abbey, a historic luxury hotel. The Cessna landed in woods while the light aircraft crashed into a cornfield about a mile away.

Eyewitnesses have praised the pilot of the Cessna for steering the plane away from a housing estate.

Father-of-two Malcolm Collins, from Daventry, Northamptonshire, watched the mid-air tragedy unfold.

He told how 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."

The Light Aircraft Association confirmed that the smaller plane was on its register, but said it could not release any more details.