Helicopter disaster which killed Leicester City owner and four others was sparked by its 'tail rotor flying off', senior air crash investigator says

Tony Cable, a former senior investigator at the Air Accident Investigations Branch (AAIB), said this was catastrophic for Vichai and his team - but said it can be survivable.

'The take off looked normal but as it hovered above the stadium you can see pieces falling away. It looks like it was from the rear rotor blade,' he said.

'The spinning around five seconds later is consistent with a tail rotor breaking off. There are lots of pieces flying around. If you lose a large proportion of the blade you get a very large imbalance and pull the whole tail rotor off the aircraft'.

He told Sky News: 'The usual thing to do is to chop the power and enter a controlled descent - that [helicopter] was clearly way out of control'.

He added: 'Pilots are trained for this. It is survivable with the appropriate technique. It shouldn't be catastrophic'.

But aviation expert Jim Rowlands, a former RAF Puma crew member, told The Sun: 'There's no real coming back from that. The only way is down.

'The pilot has clearly done an incredible job, really'.

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