Two killed as Cessna crashes near Essex airfield

Two people died when a two-seat Cessna crashed in a field off Mill Lane in High Ongar after taking off from North Weald Airfield on a short flying experience flight. Essex Police said the aircraft came down at about 12.30pm BST on Tuesday, and formal identification of the victims had not yet taken place by Wednesday 1 July 2026.

The plane had departed North Weald Airfield, about seven miles away, and did not return as expected. Essex Police said the flight was one of the short experience trips offered from the historic airfield, where flight training, trial lessons and local flying schools operate alongside sightseeing-style flights for the public.

Detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, forensic teams and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch were working at the scene alongside Essex County Fire and Rescue Service, North Weald Airfield and Epping Forest District Council. Police said their immediate priorities were to establish what happened, support the families of those who died and make the area safe for residents and nearby businesses.

The investigation has centered not only on the wreckage in the field off Mill Lane but also on the wider operation that placed a public passenger flight over rural Essex in the first place. Short flying experience trips are a familiar part of the business model at airfields such as North Weald, where customers pay for brief flights and trial lessons, often in light aircraft like the Cessna involved in Tuesday’s crash. The accident has now drawn attention to how closely those flights are monitored and how much scrutiny surrounds small-aircraft tourism when something goes wrong.

Essex Police said officers were speaking with witnesses and with members of the public who called emergency services after the crash. Investigators also asked anyone with CCTV, dashcam footage or other video from the area to come forward and use incident 600 of 30 June. Police said they would remain at Mill Lane in the coming days as inquiries continued and the scene stayed under investigation.