Fears follow plane crash: Long

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 11th Apr 2005

East Belfast Alliance Assembly Member, Cllr Naomi Long, has expressed her concern at Sunday's plane crash in East Belfast and welcomed the inquiry by air accident investigators to determine what caused the crash shortly after it left the City Airport.

The pilot was critically injured when his light aircraft crashed into Inverary playing fields at around 5.50pm on Sunday evening.

Naomi Long said, "I would wish to extend my best wishes to the pilot, who has been very seriously injured and I hope that he makes a full recovery.

"This was clearly a very serious incident, but given the dense housing right beside the playing fields where the crash took place and the fact that the playing fields themselves are so extensively used by local people, the outcome could clearly have been absolutely catastrophic.

"I hope that the air investigators report will be able to determine the cause of this crash and ensure that measures are implemented to prevent any recurrence."