Southend Airport crash: Aviation expert offers crucial insight into 'unusual' air accident

The airport is currently closed, while scheduled flights at Southend have also been cancelled for the rest of the day.

In a statement, Essex Police said: "We remain on the scene of a serious incident in Southend Airport. We were alerted shortly before 4pm to reports of a collision which involved a one 12-metre plane.

"We're working with all emergency services at the scene now and that work will be ongoing for several hours. We would please ask the public to avoid this area where possible whilst this work continues as a precaution due to their proximity to the incident, we are evacuating the Rochford 100 Golf Club and Westcliff Rugby Club. Updates will be issued as soon as possible."

And now, Gethin has outlined key details of the crash to GB News.

She said such an aircraft would hold between "seven and nine passengers", and would be used for either "business of leisure travel".

Gethin continued: "Between seven and nine people would be on board a plane of that size.

"It's a twin turbo prop, a very seasoned, proven airplane type - usually used for business travel, but obviously possibly for leisure, especially given this time of year as well.

"I understand it's a Beech B200, and like I said, it's a very established craft, it's been in production for decades and is still in production. So from a maintenance point of view, operating point of view, that makes life a lot easier for whoever owns or operates that particular aeroplane."

Further reports from the scene indicate that the plane was operated by Zeusch Aviation, a Dutch special operations aviation firm.

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Reflecting on a "difficult year" for aviation, Gethin told GB News that although such incidents are "concerning", crashes of this nature "do happen from time to time".

Gethin said: "None of us want to hear or see anything of this nature, but it has been a difficult year. Around the world, there's been a number of incidents, obviously, but we have to bear in mind that air travel is increasing year on year.

"The volume of flights keeps increasing, so in the larger scheme of things, it's still a very small percentage of incidents that that do actually take place."

Gethin added: "It's a safety first industry, and there's a very robust process with each investigation. So in this case, the Civil Aviation Authority and the Air Accident Branch will be getting involved, and they will go through it with a tooth comb and eventually, the results will come out."

Gethin concluded: "It is concerning at an aerodrome like London Southend Airport, it is really on the up in terms of passenger numbers, and it's seen a huge increase in the first four months of this year. Things are looking good.

"Obviously there is a need for lots of aviation capacity in London, in the southeast, and it also has its own catchment area. It's it's close to the Thames Estuary and the sea on the east coast in the south east as well.

"But it's very unusual and obviously very concerning images that are coming out at the moment. The critical stages of flight are takeoff and landing, and of course, this has happened at takeoff, so something may have gone wrong here."