Having been standing by the Sandown Control Tower waiting for an aircraft to arrive I will comment thus, any other information I have I will fwd to the AAIB for them to sort as usefull or not. I find the speculation and some earlier comments distastfull
The runway in use was 23 for TO and Landing.
The circuit was very busy with at the time of the accident aircrafts departure call, up to 4 in circuit, 3 waiting to leave at 23 threshold with approx two others and a high perfomance aircraft about to join the circuit.
The weather was hot however I dont have a temprature reading
The wind was southerly and was fluctuating around to the point where it slightly favoured one runway or the other for minutes at a time - certainly not enough time (in my opinion) to keep changing the runway and circuit direction.
23 is slightly up hill, especially at the start.
Operating our aircraft it was better to land going uphill with maybee a knot or two tailwind than to land into a knot or two going down hill - our choice.
The ground away from 23 does rise, however not steeply, there is a garden centre higher up and behind that higher again trees . After the trees the ground may fall away I cant see from the tower area.
When the aircraft was noted as struggling there was immediate concern, as it disapered behind the trees it was followed seconds later by a large amount of smoke.
The airfield fire engine immedtialy left to go to the scene.
A helicopter which had just lifted off went directly to the site of the accident, it was there within 90 seconds.
One of the crew jumped to the ground, saw two witnesses to the accident. he attepted to get near the aircraft but was beaten back by the fire - they returned.
I understand the Airfield Fire engine put the blaze out in difficult circumsatances.
The fire crew retuned when Police etc turned up - they were in shock and quite rightly relieved of further duties.
The airfield was closed whilst a detailed FOD check was carried out.
The airfield re-opened unlicensed with 05 being used for TO and 23 for landings. This kept aircraft away from the scene which had a large helicopter poss Coast guard hovering for a time.
With no smoke later on and the accident behind trees it looked like a normal day and unless you spoke to someone who was there at the time, it was difficult to believe that such an event had taken place.
I hope I have not upset anyone but these are simple observations as to events as I saw them. I will not comment on the aircraft, pilot or radio talk as there are better qualified people than me to deal with that.