House hit by debris from plane on navy exercise
BBCAn investigation is under way after a house in Cornwall was damaged by debris that fell from a plane during a military exercise.
Devon and Cornwall Police officers said the property in Tregaswith, near one end of the Cornwall Airport Newquay runway, had suffered damage at about 17:00 GMT on Wednesday.
Homeowner Sue Rundle said it had been "terrifying" and her bathroom was a scene of "total devastation", with large holes left in the wall and roof.
Draken, the company operating the aircraft, said it was "incredibly sorry for this very serious accident" which had happened during a "routine exercise" being run with the Royal Navy.
Nic Anderson, CEO of the company, said the debris had been from a "target on a cable" being towed by the plane.
He said: "As we were releasing the cable out from the winch under the wing, the mechanism to control the release malfunctioned, which meant we could neither wind that back in or release it and discharge it into the sea.
"In that case, the crew followed the procedures and declared an emergency to seek the nearest airport to divert to.
"It appears that on the approach to Newquay, the cable and the target were released. That is the debris that really unfortunately fell on the farm and a couple of properties."
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Mrs Rundle said she had been about to leave the house on Wednesday afternoon when she heard slates falling from the roof.
She said: "I closed the door and went back in the house and then everything upstairs just came crashing down. Concrete blocks and a huge lead weight that was attached to the aircraft.
"I didn't know what had happened. I went up to have a look and was faced with total devastation."
She said "it could have been fatal" if she had been in another part of the house at the time.
"I'm very fortunate," she said. "It's a lot to take in."
Living about a mile from the end of the runway, Mrs Rundle said she was very used to having planes flying low over her property.
She said: "It's always lovely to see the planes. We have military aircraft come over – they have to do their exercises, it's what they do to protect us as a country. Something like this, you just don't think is going to happen.
"You see these planes in the distance with this cable, wondering what they are. Now I know what they are and I've got part of it in my house."
The police said no injuries had been reported in the area and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) would lead on an investigation.
Dr Guy Gratton, an associate professor of aviation and environment at Cranfield University, told BBC Radio Cornwall similar incidents were "not frequent".
"The Civil Aviation Authority say they have reports of 10 or 15 of these a year, but almost certainly there are more than that," he said.
"It's very rare that it is noticed by many people because the vast majority of the time it will happen into the sea or farmland.
"For it to happen into property like this is incredibly rare, thankfully."
Dr Gratton said items that fell from aircraft were normally not critical to safety.
"It can happen at any point but landing and take-off is when it is most likely, when an aircraft is experiencing more vibration than at other parts of a flight," he said.
"Mostly when it happens, it is something relatively small, a panel that has worked loose, a piece of piping."
He added the AAIB would be able to identify the exact aircraft from the item, unless it was "something like a piece of ice".
Cornwall Airport Newquay said it had "safely accommodated the landing of a military aircraft" which needed to abort an exercise.
It said the "aircraft followed standard procedures and landed without incident".
The BBC has approached the Ministry of Defence for a comment.
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