Ice 'from airplane' crashes through Banbury woman's roof

Criminology researcher Dr Carla George, 45, was on a work call when she heard a massive bang.

She thought some boxes must have fallen in the attic at her home in Withycombe Drive, Banbury. But when she went to investigate, she could see blue sky through a hole in the roof and found a large block of ice on the floor.

"I went up to the attic and saw ice everywhere and I was confused where it had come from - it was like something from a movie,” Dr George said.

"I was in shock. My neighbour rang the doorbell and said, 'Do you know there's a hole in the roof?' It was so unusual.

"I thought it was some sort of explosion when I got up there."

Dr Carla George with the damage to her ceiling and roof Picture: SWNS (Image: SWNS)

Debris on Dr George's carpet after ice fell through the roof of her home in Banbury Picture: SWNS (Image: SWNS)

Having called out the fire brigade, she said a firefighter told her it was likely caused by ice falling from an aircraft on its way into Heathrow.

She said: "We do have planes flying over but I didn't hear any that day and neither did my neighbour, so that was really surprising."

Although temporarily covered over with a tarpaulin sheet, Dr Carla's roof will need a full repair. It’s expected the damage will cost £12,000 to fix.

She said: "The blocks of ice took a whole day to melt and then we had the insurers come round.

"The roofers put in a temporary fix the next day and we are waiting for surveyors to assess the damage and see what can be done for the restoration work.

"At the moment we still have the hole in the inner ceiling - you can see the lining from the outside.

"At least it's all covered by the insurance.

"And at least it didn't hit any other rooms and there were no injuries." 

The hole in Dr Carla George's roof will cost around £12,000 to repair Picture: SWNS (Image: SWNS)

Dr Carla George with the damage to her ceiling and roof Picture: SWNS (Image: SWNS)

Retired Concorde pilot John Hutchinson, 86, said it wasn’t the first time that an ice fall from an aircraft had caused damage like that seen to Dr George’s home.

"As to why the ice falls - well you don't flush toilets overboard so to speak, so it won't be from a loo,” the former pilot said.

"To me the most likely scenario is water in the undercarriage bay when the aircraft took off which formed into ice and would stay as a block of ice whilst cruising at 35,000ft.

"And as the airplane came into land at 3,000 or 4,000ft, the undercarriage would be selected down and it would fall out - that would be one solution.

"It's certainly possible that it would have been caused by a block of ice that fell off an airplane."