'We have a major problem... we're going in!' Final words of doomed plane's pilot moments before he crashed into house, killing five

A pilot told air traffic control 'we have a major problem... we're going in' seconds before crashing into a house and killing all five people on board, an inquest heard today.
Michael Roberts radioed and asked to make an immediate return after reporting an engine vibration moments after take off in Biggin Hill, Kent.
But the doomed twin-engined Cessna Citation 500 never made it back and hit a house which burst into flames.

'We're going in!': Pilot Michael Roberts radioed his control tower to say the Cessna 500 he was flying was in difficulty. Shortly afterwards it crashed into this house in Farnborough, Kent

Coroner Roy Palmer, sitting in Bromley, Kent, said it was 'extremely fortuitous' that no one was in the house at the time and through 'great good fortune' that no one was killed on the ground.
Mr Roberts,who was supposed to be flying to Pau, south-west France, told air traffic control: 'We have a major problem, a major problem. It looks as though we're going in, we're going in.'
Witnesses reported seeing the Bermuda-registered aircraft flying low above a residential area and a playing area in Farnborough, Kent, before it crashed.
All five people on board the Cessna were killed, including Mr Roberts, 63, co-pilot Michael Chapman, 57, and passengers David Leslie, 54, Richard Lloyd, 63, and Christopher Allarton, 25.

Tragic: Richard Lloyd, 63 a father-of-three, right, and former touring car driver David Leslie, 54, left, were both killed in the crash

Although an experienced pilot, Mr Chapman, from Shoreham, West Sussex, had only recently qualified on this type of aircraft, the inquest jury was told.
Nicholas Dann, of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), said Mr Roberts had considerably more experience on board such planes and it was understood that he was mentoring Mr Chapman during the flight.
Both pilots were qualified to operate on the day, March 30, 2008, and the weather conditions were good with a light westerly wind and good visibility with a cloud base of 4,000ft.

Plane victim: Chris Allarton, 25, with his girlfriend Jane Oswin

In Mr Roberts' first contact with air traffic control following take off at around 1.30pm, he said: 'We're making an immediate turn, to return to the airport, immediate turn to the airport.'
After being asked what the problem was, he added: 'Er, don't know Sir. We're getting engine vibration. We'll come straight back.'
Moments later Mr Roberts reported a 'major problem' during his final transmission before the aircraft started to descend.
Mr Dann said: 'At about the time of the final transmission several witnesses saw the aircraft about two nautical miles north of Biggin Hill.
'It was observed flying low around an area by a playing area and houses.'
Dumfries-born former British Touring Car Championship driver Mr Leslie was a father-of-two while Belfast-born Apex Motorsport boss Mr Lloyd had three daughters and lived in Brackley, Northamptonshire.
Mr Allarton, who lived in Coventry, had graduated from Coventry University and had just started working for Apex Motorsport.
Keith Conradi, chief inspector of the AAIB, said the investigation into what caused the crash was made more difficult by the absence of any 'black box' recorder on the plane, registration VP-BGE.
The Cessna was not required by law to have one fitted. However, the AAIB recommended after the accident that they should always be installed in that type of aircraft.
Mr Conradi said: 'This investigation was particularly difficult because of the lack of recorded data, ie a black box. We had to do an awful lot of work to try and understand what happened in this event.'

Lucky escape: Edwin Harman was on holiday when the doomed Cessna crashed into his home

Doomed plane: The aircraft that crashed was a Cessna Citation 500, like the one pictured. It did not have a black box recorder on board

By 1.20pm on the day of the crash, permission had been granted for the jet to taxi for take off and it was observed by air traffic control taking off normally without any apparent problems.
All five people on board died at the scene from injuries to their chest and head, as well as suffering from smoke inhalation.
Detective Chief Inspector Jane Corrigan, of the Metropolitan Police, said it was clear early on from their inquiries with Biggin Hill airport that five people had been travelling on the jet when it crashedShe said: 'We spoke to a number of people including one who said she saw the plane flying low with its left wing at an angle and then it nose-dived into the ground and exploded.
'Another witness heard a very loud jet engine as if it was trying to change gear and then saw the plane flying low and the engine struggling.'
The house owner, Edwin Harman, was away on holiday while his wife Pat was spending time with her daughter when the accident happened.
The garage of a neighbouring house and a car parked next to it were also destroyed by the impact and ensuing fire. Remarkably no one on the ground was injured.
The inquest continues.

'Welcome to Zombieland': Haunting new images reveal theme park devastated by Hurricane Katrina... and left abandoned ever since

New Orleans has made a remarkable recovery since the city was devastated by flooding during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
But now stunning new images have emerged which show how one part of the Big Easy has yet to be revived - its Six Flags theme park.
The haunting photographs, taken over the past six years, reveal an almost post-apocalyptic landscape dominated by twisted and corroded rides, now silent forever.
Graffiti covers many of the buildings, welcoming visitors to 'Zombieland' - a fitting name for the eerie park, which has been completely abandoned.

Desolation: This eerie photograph shows a corroded rollercoaster soaring into the sky behind a graffiti-covered ride at the abandoned Six Flags theme park, New Orleans

Eerie: A smashed-up clown's head looks terrifying amid the abandoned rides, like this rusting rollercoaster car, right. The flood-waters reached up to seven feet high

A smashed-up clowns head lies abandoned on the floor, while most of the rides have been left for the weeds to colonise.
During the flooding, Six Flags, in a low-lying area towards the east of the city, was submerged in up to seven feet of water, which wasn't drained for almost a month.
The combination of sea and river water corroded most of the rides, damaging them beyond repair. According to a report at the time, 80 per cent of the buildings were completely destroyed.

'Welcome to Zombieland, kids': Vandals have taken advantage of the park's devastation to spray graffiti on every surface

Abandoned: Floodwaters ripped through the Six Flags amusement park, flattening 80 per cent of the buildings and damaging most of the rides beyond repair

Drowned: Vegetation has grown over these abandoned trucks, which ironically used to be part of a jungle ride

Only one attraction could be salvaged - Batman: The Ride, which escaped more or less unscathed because its operating platform was higher than the flood waters.
For several months there were rumours that the site's leaseholders, Six Flags, would be able to reopen the park in 2006 or 2007, using an insurance payout.
The firm took over the site, formerly known as Jazzland, in 2002. But it had been losing money and was struggling to attract visitors, making it the chain's least popular park even before Hurricane Katrina.

Derelict: Most of the park has been reduced to tangled, rusty metal, after it was submerged for more than a month in a corrosive mixture of sea and river water

Paradise lost: The blacked-out sign for 'paradise hot dogs' points mockingly at the park, where weeds have been left to grow over many of the abandoned rides

Faded grandeur: These once proud buildings are now slowly falling apart after they were devastated by the floods - but the graffiti oddly supplies a note of hope

In 2006 Six Flags declared the park an 'effective total loss' and tried to get out of its 75-year lease with the City of New Orleans, saying insurers were not paying out enough to repair it.
A year after Katrina, the firm removed Batman: The Ride to be refurbished. Two years later it was reopened at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio, where it was called Goliath.
Since then developers have proposed several plans to save the park. In 2008, Southern Star Amusement announced a $70million proposal to take over the lease and double the number of rides to 60, as well as creating a water park.

Fallen silent: This carousel has been left to rust away like the rest of the park, which was already losing money before Katrina hit

Destruction: These computers, left, were smashed to pieces by the floods, while this sorry-looking sign has been left to rust away in the weeds

Washed out: The colour has faded from this once-jaunty sign for a SpongeBob Square Pants ride

In 2009 it revealed it planned to work with Nickelodeon to create the company's biggest-ever theme park, which would create 600 jobs.
But the $165million project has failed to materialise. According to the most recent reports, Southern Star Amusement filed a letter of intent to redevelop the park with the city council in January this year.
Until then, Six Flags will remain as a haunting memorial to the devastation of Katrina.

Big losers: Parents lost 21 stone to stop their children from being bullied

When Kerrie Kew’s husband decided to lose weight she threatened to divorce him - unless she lost weight first.
They weighed nearly a massive 50 stone between them - and Mrs Kew didn’t want her husband to be slim and fit unless she was too.
So they both booked in for a gastric bypass operation - six months apart - and have now lost a staggering 21 stone.

Impressive diet: Kerrie Kew threatened to divorce her husband, Paul, if he lost weight before she did

It has not only saved their marriage, but has stopped their children being bullied at school because their parents were so fat.
Mrs Kew, 41, said: ‘There was no way I was going to allow Paul to lose weight and for me to remain overweight. I didn’t want him to look great and leave me behind as the fat wife.
‘So I said to him that he could lose weight as long as I lost it first. If he went ahead and lost the weight then I would divorce him.

More...

• Eleven dress sizes smaller: A morbidly obese nurse celebrates a win over a five year battle with her weight
• Schoolboy, 10, who weighed 280lbs becomes the youngest person ever to have a gastric band op

It was a serious threat. If he hadn’t agreed, then I would have left him immediately there and then.
‘I was worried that if he was slim and I wasn’t, then he would leave me for a slimmer woman. I knew that I had to take action before he did.’
The couple, who live in Hazelmere, Buckinghamshire, with their two children Harrison, ten, and Hannah, six, were so overweight that they couldn’t ride a bike, go swimming, or play with their children.
Mr Kew, 41, weighed a massive 26 stone 4, and Mrs Kew weighed in at a hefty 22 stone 4.

Before surgery: Paul and Kerrie on a beach holiday before they had gastric bypass operations

Mrs Kew, a personal assistant at a building manufacturers, said: ‘We tried to take the children for a bike ride one morning and I was so enormous that I got wedged between the saddle and the handlebars and couldn’t move.
‘Neither Paul or I could get up the stairs without feeling out of breath and I couldn’t even get dressed in a morning by myself. Paul had to help me.
‘And Paul couldn’t drive the car easily, as his stomach always got wedged behind the steering wheel.
‘The children got teased at school because they had such fat parents.
'It was heartbreaking when we would pick them up after school and they would be crying.’
The couple had both trained as chefs and started to pile on the weight after they met.
Mrs Kew said: ‘We would eat homemade pies and lasagnes and cook new recipes for each other. We just ate massive meals, which piled on the weight.’

Motivator: Kerrie and Paul's children were being bullied at school because they were overweight

It was when their children started getting teased at school that the couple decided that they needed to take action.
They had tried several diets before but nothing had worked, so they discussed having a gastric bypass operation.
But there was one condition. Mrs Kew refused to let her husband go first and lose weight before her. If he did, she told she would divorce him straight away.
She said: ‘I was determined that Paul wasn’t going to lose the weight before me. I wanted to do it first.
‘There was no way I was going to risk him losing the weight and me not being able to.’
The couple underwent their gastric bypass operations. Mrs Kew had hers first, in July 2009, followed by Mr Kew six months later in February last year.

Ladies first: Kerrie had her gastric bypass six months before Paul did

Mrs Kew had been warned there was a one in 100 chance of dying during the operation and she wrote a heartbreaking letter to her children in case anything happened to her.
She said: ‘I knew there was a risk. But I knew that if I didn’t have the operation I wouldn’t live long enough to see them grow up anyway.
‘I knew I had to have it and it was a risk I had to take.’
Mr Kew was by his wife’s side when she had her operation. Afterwards she was only allowed liquids and after six weeks she had lost more than two stone.
She said: ‘Thankfully the operation was a success and the weight began to fall off me. Paul helped prepare mashed up food for me to eat and I started to feel much healthier.’
Then Mr Kew underwent his operation too, and the weight began to fall off him aswell.
Within 12 months of her operation Mrs Kew had lost a staggering 11 stone, and three months ago, Mr Kew hit his target weight loss of ten stone too.
Now Mrs Kew weighs a slim 11 stone 4, and Mr Kew weighs 15 stone ten.
She has dropped a staggering nine dress sizes, from a size 32 to a slim size 14, and Mr Kew’s chest size has gone from 58 inches down to 44.
Mrs Kew said: ‘We both feel absolutely fantastic. Now we can take the children to the park and join in their games - and best of all they aren’t teased at school. We can go and stand at the school gates and they are proud to be seen with us.
‘We exercise regularly and we don’t get out of breath running up the stairs. We’ve replaced our lasagnes and fish and chips with low fat chicken, rice and vegetables, and we are determined not to put the weight back on.
‘And our marriage has been saved too as I now don’t have to divorce my husband for being slimmer than me.’

The sculptor who can turn a book into an astonishing piece of art

The destruction of a book is considered by many to be an act of sacrilege.
But for Brian Dettmer slicing through the cover is an extraordinary act of creation.
The 36-year-old Atlanta based artist has carved dozens of intricate sculptures from volumes dumped in charity shops or at bookstores.

Meticulous: Artist Brian Dettmer from New York sculptured a set of vintage encyclopaedias to make this stunning piece of work depicting dozens of images within the pages

Each piece becomes a shifting 3D collage which transforms the viewers' perception of the book.
But unlike a collage, nothing is stuck on to the page or transplanted from one location to another.
Instead, Dettmer carves around the images and words nestling between the covers. The inspiration for the sculptures comes from the books themselves.
'If I have an anatomy book I think of the book as a body and approach it like a dissection,' Dettmer says.
'If it is a set of encyclopaedias, I think of the information as a landscape or a representation for the way we store and acquire information today.

Fanning out: A number of books are joined together to make this impressive circular sculpture which sits comfortably on the edge of table or shelf

In a spin: The circular sculpture pictured above, called Saturation Will Result, resembles a large water wheel. Hundreds of coats of arms and flags are carved from the pages, alongside other detailed images

'These are basic examples but basically my concept about the book's content dictates how the forms come together.'The text and images are always determined by the books itself. I seal the books edges and then carve it from the surface, removing one page or layer at a time.'I have no idea what will appear until I pull a page back and I don't move or add anything to the book.'So, the process is completely subtractive and everything you see is exactly where it always has been in the book.'

 

More...

• Artistic off-licence: Pyramid of beer devoured by Germans all in the name of art
• He loves a bit of light reading: The man with the world's biggest collection of miniature books
• Now that’s a Titanic price tag: Unique diagram of sunken liner used at official inquiry fetches £220,000

Dettmer describes the process as 'excavation' and says that his actions are akin to editing until the role of the book is transformed. He describes how each objects function as a object to be read has slowly decreased due to new technology while the relevance of its content fades over time.By altering its physical form, he adds, 'new and unexpected roles emerge.'

Colourful: Mr Dettmer's piece Vertical Knowledge was made in 2009 and shows dozens of animals, people and buildings carved into a spiralling tower

Tube: This piece might pass for a rolled up newspaper at first glance, but it is actually called Western Civilization. A close-up shot shows the incredible detail in the sculpture, including bizarre faces and statures

Creating each piece is an intense labour of love using tweezers, surgical tools, rulers, saw, pliers, Xacto knives and adhesive.He works in bright sunlight and relies on the naked eye rather than magnifiying glasses or other visual aids.The process can take a week or a year. Dettmer, who has exhibited extensively, usually works on several sculptures at once and spends up to 50 hours in his studio every week He begins by sealing the books edges with glue to make it completely enclosed.Then, carefully, he cuts into the surface of the piece from the front, exposing each letter while cutting around the images and words that he wants to retain.

Wordy: This carving looks like a carefully stacked Jenga tower but it has actually been made from thousands of pages to show a jumbled mess of words

'Nothing inside the books is relocated or implanted,' he explains. 'Only removed.'Some pieces start and then hot a point where I don't know where to direct the structure to.'I have had some pieces that take a year or so before I fond a clear direction for the work to take.' One of Dettmer's pieces, Saturation Will Result, is made from a number of books that are positioned to form a circular structure that resembles a water wheel.Inisde the pages are carved hundreds of pictures from the original encyclopaedias.Another sculpture, Western Civilization, is made from pages that appear to have been rolled up to form a pillar.

Bookworm: Pages in this enormous book are folded outwards with art carved into them, while right,  the artist uses the hard red leather covers to make a piece that resembles a book stand

Unlike Dettmer's others, Tower of Babble actually uses words instead of the colourful pictures found in the other works. It resembles a carefully stacked Jenga tower.
Dettmer, originally from Chicago where he studied at Columbia College, cites Duchamp, Tom Friedman's early work and Tim Hawkinson as his favourite artists.
His work has been exhibited and collected throughout the United States, Mexico and Europe. He is exhibiting at Kinz + Tillou gallery, in New York, until June 11.

Watch out Disney here come the REAL Bambi and Thumper - and this tale ends happily ever after

Meet the real-life Bambi and Thumper - a cute baby deer and a fluffy rabbit who have become absolutely inseparable.
The cute pair became best friends last June when Bambi was found cowering at the side of a busy major road aged just one day old.
Just like in the 1942 Walt Disney classic, poor little Bambi had lost her mother and was left all alone.
But motorist Svetlana Harper, 35, spotted her shivvering by the roadside, brought her home and nursed her back to full health.

Fur-m friends: The real-life Bambi and Thumper are inseparable

Bambi soon started meeting the other animals at his new home, including Stasha the Alsation dog, but he quickly became best chums with rabbit Thumper.Now the adorable pair play together, take naps at the same time and follow each other round all day - just like in Disney's cartoon.

More...

• The owl and the pussycat who really are the best of friends

Svetlana said: 'I was driving home at night and not far from my home I noticed something on the road - it was raining and visibility was low.'So I slowed down and as I went to drive round it I suddenly saw a small cub in the road.'I stopped and carefully got closer to the deer. It didn't move, and then I noticed the mum laying near the cub.

Cute: Bambi the rescued baby deer snuggles up to her new best friend

'The mum was dead and so would the cub have been if I didn't rescue it. I covered it with my jacket and drove it home.'I warmed some milk and added an egg to try to feed Bambi but with no success. The rest of the night he slept with me on the sofa and I would try and feed him again.

Adopted family: Bambi plays with two more of her new animal pals

'By the end of the day he finally started to suckle milk from the bottle and felt better. He was following me everywhere - I was like his mum.'Over the next few days the weather got better and a spring returned to the little cub who began bouncing around the house.Soon he was ready to venture outside and start meeting his new pals around Svetlana's home in Montana, USA. She added: 'He met all my dogs and rabbits and a few were very interested in Bambi.My German-Shepherd Stasha likes all cubs and once even fed kittens who lost their mum.'She started to care about Bambi and kept licking him and always laying down near him.

On-screen relationship: Disney's Bambi and Thumper in the classic 1942 cartoon

'But he was more interested in Ben, my rabbit who looks just like Thumper.
'They quickly became inseparable - it was very cute and made everyone laugh. We fed Bambi with milk and tried to leave him with Stasha as long as possible.
'All he wanted to do though was go and see Ben.'

The bling barbecue: World's most expensive grill is plated all over in 24-carat gold... and it's yours for $165,000

If your barbecue is beginning to rust away and wasn’t quite up to the job on Memorial Day weekend, then why not replace it with this one?
The world’s most expensive barbecue - all individually plated in 24-carat gold and built by hand - is yours for around $165,000.
Australian firm BeefEater Barbecues produces the ‘ultimate in backyard bling' - a grill completely plated in gold apart from the cooking surfaces.

Golden grill: The world's most expensive barbecue is all individually plated in 24-carat gold and built by hand

The grill was first built for the Sydney Home Show and was later verified as the world’s most expensive barbecue in November 2009.


More...
Rebecca Tyrrel's trouble and strife: Just why DOES my husband wear a fencing mask at barbecues?
The most beautiful boat in the world? Mega-yacht which comes complete with hot tubs, swimming pool.... and even a golf green

 

The company was celebrating being named the World’s Finest Barbecue in a global review of the world’s finest luxury products.It is a pimped-out version of the firm’s Signature Series 6 Burner SL4000 and became the world’s first fully-functional gold barbecue.



Sparkly: The world's most expensive barbecue was built by BeefEater Barbecues for the Sydney Home Show
 

It boasts a six-burner barbecue and wok burner, quartz start ignition, warming rack, roasting hood, high-output burners and vaporiser grid.The company said it made the golden grill for those who ‘want to make a statement with their barbecue and have the money to burn’.‘Part of the fun of having a barbecue is putting on a show, and that’s what we do best,’ a BeefEater Barbecues spokesman said.He added that it was only made to see how much in 'opulence, price and features' the company could fit into one product.With the gold price currently above $1,500 per ounce it could also represent a decent investment if the price continues to rise.

The most beautiful boat in the world? Mega-yacht which comes complete with hot tubs, swimming pool.... and even a golf green

With its stunningly beautiful lattice exterior and equally luxurious facilities, this eye-catching vessel blows Roman Abramovich's super-yacht out of the water in the style stakes.
The lavish interior of the Voronoi 'mega-yacht' is encased in an intricate honeycomb lattice facade, making it potentially one of the most beautiful boats to have taken to water.
And with hot tubs, a golfing green, swimming pool and sky lounge, the 125m yacht has enough creature comforts to catch the eye of most Russian oligarchs.

Eye-catching: The distinctive lattice exterior of the Voronoi makes it unlike the average multi-million pound super-yacht

One of a kind: The Voronoi is an impressive 125m long, making it bigger than Roman Abramovich's Luna

The Voronoi was the creation of yacht enthusiast Kim Hyun-Seok, who was intent on designing the ultimate yacht complete with the most distinctive exterior possible.
Mr Hyun-Soek described the 20m beam single hull vessel he came up with as 'a unique and enjoyable luxury yacht'.
He named the yacht after the 'Voronoi' concept of random geometric spacing created by Russian mathematician Georgy Voronoi.

Plush: A large swimming pool comes as standard on board the 'unique and enjoyable' Voronoi

Lap of luxury: The dining area and bar on board the mega-yacht are equally modern and impressive

All aboard: The second tier on the Voronoi features more exclusive areas and ultra-sleek design

Mr Hyun-Soek said: 'We can find the (Voronoi) pattern in many areas, especially our body, and cell membranes look like Voronoi patterns.
'The Voronoi pattern is a special method of removing unwanted blocks of solid space, letting you create the most robust structures while using the minimum amount of material.
'Therefore, this method is often used in engineering work.

More...

• Frank Lampard planning 'proposal to Christine Bleakley on Abramovich's yacht'
• Hard-up Navy rents a ship from Norway: £40 million bill to maintain presence in the Falklands

'Any kind of guests who are selected by the owner will totally be satisfied when they are on board.'
The steel, aluminium and enhanced plastic compound Voronoi also features a lush indoor garden, bar, gallery and dining room with a stage for playing music.
And at 125m long, it pips Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's £115m superyacht by 10m.

Spectacular: A night-time design concept shows off the boat's unique lattice exterior the full

Garden of paradise: The luxury vessel even includes a glorious garden surrounded by the boat's trademark 'honeycomb' facade

Ultimate relaxation: Guests on board would also be treated to hot tubs looking out on to the ocean and a golf green for refining your long game

The majestic Voronoi is only 1m shy of being as long as Octopus, the £122m super yacht owned by Micosoft co-founder Paul Allen.
Mr Hyun-Soek, who this year won an award for his yacht designing skills, said the Voronoi was only a concept - but he believed it could be constructed in the future.
He added: 'To the best of my knowledge, this kind of complex structure and non-repeatable pattern can be constructed using a stamp method.
'Therefore the structure can be divided into lots of individual pieces and then connected to each other.'

Spacious: The galley area offers further space and opportunities to live the high life

Captain's quarters: Even the Voronoi's wheelhouse continues the lattice honeycomb structure theme in style