Tributes have been paid to two men who died when their aircraft crashed into a mountain.
Dave Martin, of Kinghorn in Fife, and Alan McCaskie, of Broughty Ferry, were involved in the horrific accident at the weekend as they took part in a group microlight excursion.
Both were members of the Scottish Aero Club at Perth Airport and had been travelling to the Isle of Mull with three other aircraft.
Sadly, Mr Martin (63), who was piloting the microlight, and his passenger, 62-year-old Mr McAskie, never made it to the rendezvous point as they crashed into Ben More, near Crianlarich, just after noon on Saturday.
Their friends had been flying in front of the pair and were unaware of the tragedy. They arrived at Mull and enjoyed a meal, posting a photo of their day out on the club’s Facebook page. They only learned what had happened much later and were said to have been “deeply shocked”.
Last night Mr McCaskie’s wife Lorna was too upset to speak, but the family issued a statement from their home in Broughty Ferry.
“We are grieving for the loss of Alan McCaskie, who we tragically lost,” the statement read. “We are struggling to come to terms with the loss of such a wonderful man who was taken from us all too suddenly.”
Dave McElroy, chairman of the Scottish Aero Club, said the men would be badly missed by club members.
“We have over 250 members and every one of them knew Dave,” Mr McElroy said. “He was probably the most active member of the club and was extraordinarily well-known and popular.
”He had been a key factor of the club since joining in 2000 and had fulfilled the role of secretary for the last four years.”
Mr McElroy revealed that the retired health and safety consultant was an ”extremely proficient and experienced” microlight pilot, making it harder for his friends to accept the events of Saturday afternoon.
He also paid tribute to Mr McCaskie, company director of Broughty oil and gas firm Altech Inspection Services Ltd, who had only joined the Scottish Aero Club last year.
Mr McElroy said: ”He was a student pilot who was working towards his licence and was very passionate about flying.
”Alan was very well liked and was an affable chap. Their deaths are a deep loss to the club, as well as to their families.”
Investigations into the cause of the crash are being led by Central Scotland Police and the Civil Aviation Authority. While Mr McElroy said the club was co-operating with the police, it would not be preventing members from flying.
”I would like to make a distinction between this incident and the microlight accident that took place in Clackmannanshire last month,” he said.
”These were very different circumstances Dave was a highly proficient pilot flying a well-certified machine. We have no idea what caused the accident but it was completely unexpected.”
An investigation into the Clackmannanshire microlight crash, when pilot Adrian Paterson’s 23-year-old Gemini Flash plane broke up in mid-air, revealed that the craft was unregistered and the 49-year-old did not have a licence.
The Scottish Aero Club is the oldest and largest flying club in Scotland and is associated with four flight training schools that teach students to fly three-axis aircraft, microlights, helicopters and gyrocopters.
It has an active membership of around 250 people owning a total of around two dozen microlights.
As well as his wife Lorna, Mr McCaskie is survived by his son Steven and stepsons Ross and Scott.
Photo by Maurice McDonald/PA Archive