Tears over helicopter crash that killed rally champion

McRae, 39, died with three others when the Eurocopter Squirrel he was piloting came down near his house in Lanark on September 15 2007.

His five-year-old son Johnny, the boy's six-year-old schoolfriend Ben Porcelli, and McRae's friend Graeme Duncan, 37, were also killed in the crash.

The group had been on a trip to see a friend of McRae's about a gearbox part, a fatal accident inquiry at Lanark Sheriff Court heard.

Housekeeper and family friend Kathleen Anderson was looking after his daughter Hollie in the kitchen at Jerviswood House at about 4pm when she heard the approaching helicopter make a "chugging" noise and a bang.

The youngster thought the sound was a quad bike hitting metal.

Mrs Anderson, who carried out housekeeping duties at the house twice a week, said: "I thought, that's making a funny noise, a different noise.

"It was making, like, a labouring, chug, chugging noise.

"I went up to the utility room and I heard, like, a thud, bang and then two minutes later – it seemed like two minutes – I heard a swoosh."

Asked what went through her mind, she said: "Part of my head knew it had happened, but part did not want to believe it."

The mother of four had to be comforted by court staff as she described how she went back down to the kitchen and asked Hollie, who was sitting at the table, if she had heard the noise.

She said: "She said to me, 'Kathleen, I know what it was, it was the quad bike hitting the metal'."

McRae's friend William Kirkhope, a plumber from Carnwath, told the inquiry that he and others, including Graeme Duncan, were at McRae's home riding on motorbikes and quad bikes on the day of the crash.

He left at around 3pm, before McRae, Mr Duncan, Johnny and Ben went to visit another friend, John Crawford.

Mr Kirkhope, 43, said he had flown with McRae 20 to 30 times and had always trusted him.

He said McRae always checked the aircraft before a flight and made sure everyone wore seatbelts. He said: "He was always very cautious. He never took any chances."

Statements were read out from other friends who described McRae as a responsible pilot and "not a show-off".

Mrs Anderson broke down for a second time as she said it was not until she was discussing her statement with police that it hit her that McRae and his son had died.

Sobbing, she said: "I remember screaming because I thought they were still alive.

"I didn't know they were dead until I read the statement.

"I remember shouting, 'my wee man, my wee man'."

Statements were also read out from Karen and Mark Porcelli, the parents of Ben, who said they did not give McRae permission to take their son in the helicopter.

The inquiry before Sheriff Nikola Stewart continues today.