from news.bbc.co.uk
The experienced pilot of a plane in which eight people were killed may have been misled into taking the wrong emergency action, a report has revealed.
Captain John Easson, 49, appeared to react initially to what he believed was a loss of power in the right-hand engine of the Cessna 404 Titan.
But it was the engine on the left side which had suffered failure in the accident near Glasgow Airport, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.
The victims
Captain John Easson, 49
Stewardess Pauline MacIver, 31
Stewardess Pauline Moyes, 38
Stewardess Linda Taylor, 29
Stewardess Helen Steven, 28
Stewardess Lynn McCulloch, 23
Pilot Colin Finnie, 32
Pilot Bill Henderson, 54
Out of the 11 on board, eight died and three, including Captain Hugh O'Brien, 39, Kevan MacKenzie, 32, and steward Derek Morrison survived.
The survivors told the Air Accident Investigation Branch that they heard a bang or a thud shortly after take-off in the Cessna 404 Titan.
They thought this had come from the right-hand side, but the AAIB report added: "It is possible that the bang came from the left engine but sounded as if it came from the right engine".
The AAIB said the right-hand propeller was put into the "feather" position - a manoeuvre in which the blade is adjusted to prevent further damage and to minimise drag.
But this left the propeller of the failed, left, engine unfeathered and so the aircraft was incapable of climbing on one engine alone.
When Capt Easson, of Bryde, Isle of Man, who was taking the Airtours' crew to Aberdeen, feathered the right-hand engine's propeller there was a total loss of thrust.
He tried to return to Glasgow, but the plane went down in a field, crashing through a hedge and bursting into flames.
Capt Easson had been confronted with "an unenviable emergency at a critical stage of his flight", the investigators said.
The report said: "Time for him to make the correct diagnosis and to take the correct action was short.
"He seems to have reacted initially to a perceived power loss from the right engine and then had to deal with a progressive loss of power from the left engine."
A post-accident inspection "did not reveal any mechanical evidence of a problem with the right engine".
Extreme conditions
Investigators also concluded that if Capt Easson had tried to carry out a forced landing in a field rather than deciding to return to Glasgow Airport, "the outcome might have been different".
The end of the flight might have been "far more survivable for all on board", added the AAIB.
However, the report said that, under extreme conditions the captain had "maintained the only option that occurred to him - returning to the airport".
The AAIB added that all of the passenger seats had come lose from the floor of the aircraft.
The passengers that perished in the fire "would have had improved survival prospects if the strengths of their seats had been to the latest airworthiness requirements".
The aircraft was operated by the Edinburgh Air Charter company and was taking the Airtours staff to Aberdeen to connect with a holiday flight to Majorca.
The plane did not have, nor was required to have, flight recorders.
The AAIB recommended that such aircraft should at least have a cockpit voice recorder and that the Civil Aviation Authority should look at the seats issue.