A REPORT into a plane crash which killed all five people on board has found a missing rivet head may have led to the shutdown of an engine.

On March 30 in 2008, a Cessna Citation private jet came crashing down into an empty house in Romsey Close, Farnborough minutes after take off from Biggin Hill Airport.

Pilots Mike Roberts, 63, and Michael Chapman, 57, and passengers David Leslie, 54, 63-year-old Richard Lloyd, and Christopher Allarton, 25 died in the accident which destroyed the home of pensioners Pat and Ed Harman, who were away on holiday at the time.

Prior to coming down, the airport tower received a transmission from Mr Roberts: “We have a major problem, a major power problem. It looks as though we’re going in, we’re going in.”

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch’s report says about 70 seconds before the crash neither engine was producing any thrust.

It also said: “The rivet head securing the left engine fuel cut-off lever had become detached at some time prior to impact.”

A rivet is a metal pin used for passing through holes in two or more plates or pieces to hold them together.

The report said: “A mechanical failure within the air cycle machine caused the vibration which led to the crew attempting to return to the departure airfield.

“A relight attempt on the second engine was probably started before the relit first engine had reached idle speed, resulting in insufficient time for enough thrust to be developed to arrest the aircraft’s rate of descent before ground impact.”

A lack of any black box on the plane meant investigators were denied information “critical to identifying the cause of the accident”.