AN INQUEST into the deaths of five people killed when a plane crashed into a house has returned a verdict of accidental death.

Two pilots and three passengers died when a private jet en route to France from Biggin Hill Airport crashed into a house in Romsey Close, Farnborough, on March 30 in 2008.

The detached house was left in ruins but owners Ed and Pat Harman were away at the time.

Jurors at Bromley Coroner’s Court heard the pilots, 63-year-old Mike Roberts, from Leatherhead, and 57-year-old Michael Chapman from West Sussex, reported problems just after taking off at 1.30pm.

Mr Roberts told the Biggin Hill control room they were experiencing engine vibrations and were returning to the airport.

In his final call to the control room, Mr Roberts said: “We have a major problem, a major power problem.”

Mark Jarvis, a senior engineering expert for the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB), had told jurors the vibration was likely to have come from a fault in the plane's air cycle machine (ACM).

Examining the aircraft after the crash, Mr Jarvis said there had been a bearing fault on the ACM but that no problem had previously been reported.

He told the court it would be natural for a pilot to suspect the problem was located in one of the Cessna Citation jet's two engines.

Mr Jarvis explained to jurors that after shutting down the engine they believed to be at fault, a normal course of action would be to slow down the remaining engine for landing.

But Mr Jarvis said that a rivet which appeared broken next to a thrust lever after the crash could have caused the second engine to shut down completely.

Jurors heard this meant the pilots may have been unable to generate sufficient power in a single engine again, leading to them crashing as their plane lost altitude.

A second AAIB inspector and trained pilot, Nicholas Dann, told the court that most pilots would react as Mr Roberts and Mr Chapman did if they suspected engine vibration.

Coroner Dr Roy Palmer said there was no black box onboard the jet, which had hampered the AAIB investigation into the crash.

The jury had heard there were no reported problems with the plane and all maintenance records were up to date before take-off.

Mr Dann had told the jury that both pilots were sufficiently experienced to fly the jet, but that Mr Chapman had only recently qualified to fly that type of aircraft.

The jury found Mr Roberts died of head and chest injuries, while Mr Chapman died of head and facial injuries.

Two of the passengers killed, David Leslie, 54, from Oxfordshire, and 25-year-old Christopher Allerton, from Coventry, died of head and chest injuries.

The third passenger - Richard Lloyd, 63, from Northamptonshire -died of head, chest and spinal injuries.

Nobody on the ground was injured.