AIR accident investigators are still looking into the cause of a crash which killed four people, including the Wiltshire pilot.

The 44-year-old man, believed to be from Salisbury and named as Paul Norman, died along with a father and daughter and a former national parachute jumping champion when the Cessna 206 light aircraft they were flying in crashed just after take-off.

Major Mike Wills of the Royal Marines was among the world's leading parachutists.

He had been in the sport for 27 years and made thousands of jumps.

Two injured passengers, a 23-year-old man from Taunton, Somerset, and a 16-year-old youth from Kingsteignton, south Devon, were today still in hospital in Exeter.

The crash site, which is close to the village of Beacon, near Honiton, has been examined by officials from the Department of Transport's Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

The wreckage of the aircraft was due to be removed from the site yesterday.

Retired police officer Eric Franklin, 66, from Beacon, described seeing the aircraft flying low over his farmhouse and hearing the engine "cutting out and spluttering" before the crash.