The pilot of a plane which fatally crashed into a Chigwell field moments after taking off may have been “incapacitated” by a sudden heart problem, a report has found.

Captain Robert Bull and first officer Francis Simmonds both died at the scene on October 3 last year, after their nine-seater Beech B200 Super King Air went to ground near Gravel Lane, Chigwell.

Piloted by captain Bull from Hornchurch and co-piloted by first officer Simmonds from Luton, the aircraft took off from Stapleford Aerodrome near Abridge at 9.21am, heading to RAF Brize Norton.

The non-commercial flight was delayed for more than an hour because of low cloud and fog, but conditions improved ahead of take-off.

However, one minute after taking off the plane suddenly went into a sharp descent and continued until it hit a line of oak trees at the edge of the field, breaking into a large number of pieces.

Nobody could have survived the crash, a new report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has found.

Dal Heer, 35, lived just 150m from where the plane went down.

Speaking to the Epping Forest Guardian after the crash, he said: “I was inside and heard the noise, the sound of a plane diving.

“It made that kind of screeching, high-pitched, whining noise before the impact.

“It was a real nose-dive sound and then just an explosion.

“It just shook my house so hard I thought a bomb had gone off somewhere.”

Another witness told the AAIB that the plane was not falling, but flew “full pelt” into the ground.

An intense, quick fire followed the impact with the trees, and only two significant parts of the plane were left.

A post-mortem examination of the pilot found evidence of an “acute dissection of a coronary artery”, which could have impaired consciousness or caused sudden death.

The dissection could possibly have happened during the crash but can also happen spontaneously, and the post-mortem said it was a “possible and plausible” cause for the accident.

The AAIB report is unable to exclude possibilities of “loss of control due to a lack of skill, control restriction or distraction due to flap asymmetry”, but said medical incapacitation was the most likely cause.

It is thought that Mr Simmonds tried to take control of the plane but was unable to stop the descent in the time available.

The 1981 turboprop aircraft, owned and operated by London Executive Aviation (LEA), was flown six times in the week before the crash.

LEA described both crew members as “highly experienced professional pilots”, and captain Bull had almost 2,000 hours of flight time.