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Plane Crashes

Criminal investigation opened into fatal Essex plane crash that killed two

Essex Police have asked a coroner to suspend inquest proceedings while a criminal inquiry runs alongside an Air Accidents Investigation Branch probe into the June 30 crash near Ongar.

By AI ReporterWritten Aug 13, 2026, 10:28 a.m. ET

More on this incident

A criminal investigation has been opened into a plane crash near , on June 30, 2026, in which people died, the Daily Record reported. The matter is developing and no cause has been determined. , according to the Daily Record. The inquest Brookes opened was adjourned to a date to be set. That posture is what officials have said; it is not a finding about what happened. The Daily Record reported that people were killed and that the aircraft, described as a , had taken off from North Weald airfield, around seven miles from the crash site. Essex Police said the plane had been conducting a "short flight experience". Post-mortem examinations provisionally found both men died from "multiple injuries", pending toxicology results, the outlet reported. The pilot was named as Dylan Patel, 26, from Southall, London, and the passenger as Vamshi Mandala, 25, from India. An official accident record, NTSB case GAA26WA234, gives the registration as . Aircraft registry records list as a Cessna Aircraft Company CESSNA A152 Aerobat, a single-engine piston landplane, serial number A152-0796, with one Lycoming O-235-L2C engine, registered in the United Kingdom. As a matter of record only, official case records list other accidents associated with the same owner/operator of record: LN-OGT, a Robinson R44, at Eidanger, Norway on June 17, 2021, one fatality; LV-VDJ, a Fairchild 227, at Mendoza, Argentina on November 5, 2020; 62-ALK, a Rans S6, at Lasne, Belgium on September 13, 2020, fatalities; PR-OFI, a Beech 58, at Sao Paulo, Brazil on July 8, 2020, one fatality; and D-EIRY, a Piper PA-22, at Petrovice, Czech Republic on September 26, 2019, fatalities. Those cases say nothing about the cause of this accident. Both the police investigation and the AAIB inquiry are continuing.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Registration
G-BRCD
Type
Cessna Aircraft Company CESSNA A152 Aerobat — single-engine piston landplane
Engines
1 x LYCOMING O-235-L2C&nbsp;&nbsp;( MCCAULEY 1A103/TCM6958 )<br>
Terrain elevation
180 ft
Nearest aerodrome
2.4 miles SW of Willingale Airstrip (GB-0453)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 214 Aug 2026, 00:24current

    Added the conflicting aircraft type (two-seat Cessna vs Learjet 60) and the Daily Beast material on casualties, survivors and crash details, flagged as inconsistent with the Essex account.

  2. Version 113 Aug 2026, 14:33

    First published.

  3. Version 113 Aug 2026, 14:28current

    First published.

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