AN airman from RAF Benson was killed when his helicopter "fell from the sky" on his first mission in Iraq, an inquest heard yesterday.

Flt Lt Kristian Gover, 30, of 33 Squadron, had only been based in Basra for a few days before dying of smoke inhalation when his Puma helicopter crashed on July 19, 2004.

His sister Antoinette Thornalley, who lives in Bampton, and parents Tony and Deirdre Gover, who now live in France, were at the inquest at County Hall in Oxford yesterday to hear how he died.

The inquest heard it had been co-pilot Flt Lt Gover and pilot Flt Lt Daniel Brook's first mission in Iraq, following training flights two days earlier.

The helicopter, which had one other passenger, Flt Sgt Pedrick, had been about to land at Basra airport after returning from dropping off service personnel in the desert.

Flt Lt Brook said: "We started moving down and very, very suddenly, very shortly after that, it went through the roof and the ground rush was enormous and it was very clear that we were going to hit the ground."

A strong wind warning was issued just five minutes after the helicopter had taken off and after the pilots had been briefed.

He said: "I think I misinterpreted the wind. I'm not sure yet if we had the wrong Met information but I believed it was a light northerly wind."

The inquest also heard that the Puma helicopter had "vices" including a delay in power reaching the rotor blades.

Flying Officer Wes Healey, who was in the air traffic control tower at the time of the accident, described how he saw the crash.

He said: "The helicopter just seemed to fall out of the sky.

"It seemed to be like someone had a helicopter and just dropped it."

The inquest heard that the helicopter hit the ground once before rising again and briefly stabilising then nose-dived to the ground, where it burst into flames.

He said he had told the helicopter that the wind speed was 22 knots - but deputy assistant coroner Andrew Walker said there was "no indication that was ever heard" by the crew.

Sqn Ldr Martin Cowie, who was in charge of the unit of six Puma helicopters and their crews in Basra, said the helicopter had been operating at close to its maximum load, with a full fuel load for a trip which would only have required half a tank.

The temperature was also above the Puma's original published maximum - 43 degrees - although that limit had been extended to 50 degrees and upwards to cover operations in Iraq.

He admitted: "It certainly exacerbated the problems in this case but the aircraft was being operated to close to its maximum limit most of the time in the theatre."

Mr Walker said: "I can't understand how these two extremely competent pilots ended up in the situation that they were in. It doesn't make sense."

"It rather reflects badly on the training. These are two experienced pilots who don't seem to have appreciated this aircraft shouldn't have been loaded to the level that it was loaded."

The inquest will continue today.