It’s been a tragic week for aviation as two military jets, a skydiving plane and a charter jet crashed over the course of just four days.

Shortly after take off from the Mercer County Regional Airport, a 1960 Piper airplane was seen attempting to return to the runway with its landing gear redeployed before losing altitude and hitting the ground.

A small plane crash in China’s capital exposed major gaps in the country’s airspace controls, analysts said, as the government tried to limit public discussion of the incident.

RNLI lifeboat crews and a HM Coastguard helicopter rushed to the scene on Friday evening following a Mayday call from a light aircraft carrying two people.