BBC now saying the aircraft was on fire when airborne.
The plane was on fire as it took off from Barton Aerodrome, the BBC understands.
If true (and we all know about the "quality" of journos in the "must have a headline today" department) this is very worrying particularly in light of the latest regs from the cynical money grabbing Euro gravy train known as EASA (the "S" stands of "screw") which makes it difficult on a European registered (e.g. G-reg) aircraft to replace originally specified rubber hoses with like-for-like modern teflon replacements.
On an N-reg you can fit teflon hoses and most N-reg owners have done that. A Piper will be all-American and won't have any expensive ISO (metric) fittings which cause hoses to cost a few hundred quid. Most American-pattern Teflon fuel hoses, fireproof and tested to 1500psi) are about £70 and they have no degradation mechanism (in this application), have no inherent life limit, and on some aircraft types (e.g. my TB20) they are not life limited even in situ.
It will be interesting what comes out of this sad and pointless accident...