AN engine problem and bad weather led to a plane crash that killed a Cookhill couple and left their six-year-old son orphaned, a coroner has ruled.

Lewis and Sally Tonkinson had been returning home in their light aircraft after visiting friends on the Isle of Wight when the plane came crashing down near a tree-line at a Hampshire airfield.

At an inquest in Basingstoke yesterday, coroner Andrew Bradley and a jury heard that the plane was seen turning "like it was performing an aerobatic display" as it stalled in the sky during poor weather conditions before the crash.

The tragic couple were pulled from the wreckage and pronounced dead at the scene on January 3, 2015 - just two days after Mr Tonkinson's 50th birthday.

The only survivor was the couple's six-year-old son, George, a pupil at King's Hawford Junior School in Worcester, who was rushed from the crash site near Popham airfield to Southampton General Hospital where he was treated for his injuries.

The youngster's father had been piloting the vehicle before the engine stalled and seized.

Mr Bradley heard on Wednesday, April 13 that the Pioneer 400 aircraft had been spotted by a driver as it swivelled in the sky in an almost "aerobatic" manoeuvre.

Giving evidence, witness Stuart Polfrey said: "It was a grim January day and on and off it was spitting. I saw a small light aircraft ahead of me, and I watched it for three to four minutes.

"The plane reappeared and appeared to be flying vertically and across. It was more of a turn you would see at an aerobatic display.

"It was flying lower than a normal plane approach. It was swivelling on the centre of its axis. It was like they were struggling to keep it in control.

"I was concerned because when I last saw it I could not see anywhere it could go and thought a crash could happen.

"As I approached home I saw the fire engine heading in the opposite direction and I put two and two together."

Mr Tonkinson had only five hours experience flying this particular plane as he had only recently bought it, but he had accumulated 200 hours flying experience in total.

Experienced pilot Melvyn Hiscock, who was a radio operator at Popham airfield that day, told the coroner that he personally would not have flown that day.

Adrian Cope from the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) inspected the condition of the aircraft to check for faults, and found that the engine had seized before the plane fell from the sky.

Addressing the jury, Mr Bradley said: "The fact of the matter is that the Tonkinson family were coming back from the Isle of Wight and the weather effectively closed in.

"I have no doubt that there is a point at which Mr Tonkinson feels that things are not right. Whether that is the technical difficulty with the turbo control unit (in the plane's engine) or whether it is the weather - it is chicken and egg.

"I think the evidence you have heard does not lead to a positive conclusion. It is quite clear the weather did not help and the TCU did not help.

"The combined effects have lead to, on the approach to Popham, the engine stalling. The aircraft plummets to the ground and Mr and Mrs Tonkinson are killed.

"Their son, thank God, is preserved in the aircraft."

Following a 40 minute deliberation, the jury returned a narrative verdict for the deaths of both Mr and Mrs Tonkinson.

The family were headed for Bidford airfield in Warwickshire, near to the family home in Alcester, when the plane crash occurred.

Following the hearing, the family legal team declined to comment at this stage on the progress of the Tonkinson's young son George. There was also no statement from the family.