Emergency services rushed to farmland near the M62 in Littleborough, Rochdale, after a light aircraft thought to be carrying two people crashed with a yellow parachute canopy seen caught in a nearby pylon.
An update has been given regarding the light aircraft, believed to be carrying two people, that has crashed near a UK town after a parachute was spotted at the scene. Emergency services were called to farmland near the M62 in Littleborough, Rochdale, just after 11am today (February 3).
According to Flight Radar, which tracks air traffic, the aircraft is a small Cirrus SR 20 that had departed from Birmingham. This model of plane is equipped with a parachute system and images on social media seem to show a yellow parachute canopy entangled in a nearby pylon.
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: “Emergency services are responding to reports of a light aircraft crash in the Littleborough area.”
He added: “We are currently in attendance to establish the full circumstances and assess any casualties. A scene is in place whilst emergency service workers conduct their inquiries and people are asked to avoid the area as this work is carried out.”
Stephanie Mills, from Dickey Steps Riding School, told BBC Radio Manchester that a large yellow parachute could be seen attached to the pylon. “There wasn’t any noise, I didn’t hear anything but there is a huge yellow parachute. There is a lot of police and helicopters here too,” she said, reports Manchester Evening News.
Andrew Mayall, at Whittaker Golf Club, said: “I noticed something about 10ish this morning. I thought at first that a massive sheet had been blown up there at first as it’s very windy up here.”
The aircraft is believed to be a small Cirrus SR20, a piston-engine, four- or five-seat composite monoplane which departed from Birmingham before descending rapidly.
A Birmingham Airport spokesperson said: “We can confirm a private light aircraft left BHX, from the XLR Executive Jet Centre at around 10am today.
“We are supporting all our partners, and no further comment will be made until all facts are established by our third-party partners.”
Emergency services including police, paramedics and firefighters rushed to the crash site near Tunshill Lane, just off Kiln Lane and close to Tunshill Golf Club.
An air ambulance responded to the incident and subsequently touched down at Salford Royal Hospital.
Local farmer Pete Robinson from Shaw was tending to his sheep when he heard sirens and witnessed a “massive response going up Blackstone Edge”.
He said: “So I went up into a top field and saw what I thought at the time to be a paraglider on the moor edge, engines and lights everywhere.”
Mr Robinson described seeing emergency crews rushing towards the pylon.
“Hopefully they will be okay because the wind is horrendous up on the moor edge,” he said.
Another witness reportedly heard a ‘sound of a misfiring rocket’.
Martin Kelly, who was waiting at a bus stop in Elland in West Yorkshire, heard what he believes to have been the aircraft fly over.
He said: “It just didn’t sound right. It was very low for a start and it appeared to be malfunctioning. It sounded very, very strange.
“I was stood at the bus stop with a woman and we both looked up and said ‘What was that?’. It was a loud droning noise, like the the sound of a misfiring rocket, but it wasn’t constant.
“We get a lot of light aircraft flying over here, so I am familiar with their engine noise and something was definitely amiss.”
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