Four British tourists died in Peru plane crash 'after pilot who had been drinking forgot to turn on fuel supply'. Accident occurred October 2, 2010. Cessna 185, Air Nasca, OB-1808. The Nasca Lines.

• Pilots 'rushed pre-flight checks'
• Party booked sightseeing trip 20 minutes before curfew
• Captain found with alcohol in his system

A pilot at the controls of a sightseeing plane which crashed in Peru killing four British tourists forgot to turn on the fuel supply, an inquest has heard.

The Cessna 185 crashed just 90 seconds after takeoff, killing Gayle Callow instantly along with her friend and boss Andrew Brown and two other holidaymakers, Warren Denham and Alistair Lowe.

Captain Ricardo Cardenas Garcia, aged 40 years, and co-pilot Gilberto Zuniga Sanchez, aged 56 years, also died in the crash, on October 2 last year.

Investigators discovered the pilots had rushed pre-flight checks after getting a booking just 20 minutes before a curfew began on the remote site in Peru, a coroner heard.

The curfew had been introduced following a previous plane crash in the area, and the inquest was also told how witnesses had seen the pilots arguing before the ill-fated flight.

The flight's captain had been drinking, the inquest was told, and while his alcohol level - 51 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood - was less than the UK drink-drive limit, it was above the drinking and flying limit in this country.

In Peru, no one is allowed to operate a plane if they have consumed any alcohol in last 24 hours.

The aircraft had set off with the tourists for an aerial tour of one of Peru's top tourist attractions, the mysterious ancient Nazca Lines.

The ancient geoglyphs, a world heritage site dating pre-Inca times in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru, is best seen from the air.

The plane had only reached heights of 300 feet when the crash happened, the coroner for Buckinghamshire heard.

Lisa Fitzsimons, an inspector from the Air Accident Investigation Branch, reviewed her Peruvian counterparts' report and told the inquest in High Wycombe: 'The loss of power was due to the fact that after four-and-a-half minutes the engine consumed 0.85 gallons of fuel, equivalent to the capacity of the fuel reserve and additionally in the pumps, valves and filters.

'The aircraft took off with the fuel selector in the OFF position.'

She said that that meant the main tanks were 'isolated' so no fuel would flow from them.

The doomed Air Nazca flight had spent three minutes on the ground before taking off. Had it been delayed a further 90 seconds the engine would have stopped before the plane had taken to the air.

Ms Fitzsimons said that at such a low height the pilots would have had very little time to react and would have had to lower the nose to maintain airspeed over the wings.

Witnesses reported hearing spluttering and seeing the Cessna trying to make an emergency landing

She added: 'However, when it came in the engine was heard to roar and the aircraft was seen to rise again.

'It's possible some fuel in the lines got through and the pilots may have thought they had resolved the engine problem.

'It is at that point they raised the nose and attempted to climb again and that served to slow the wings and rendered the aircraft uncontrollable.'

She said the plane's instruments indicated the rate of descent when it crashed at 1,150ft per minute.

Recording a verdict of misadventure, Coroner Richard Hulett said: 'They may well have been better off opting for the crash-landing.'

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