Huge block of ice ‘falls from plane’ and crashes through woman’s roof

‘I was in shock. My neighbour rang the doorbell and said, ‘Do you know there’s a hole in the roof?’

A woman has a £12k hole in her roof caused by a block of ice - which may have fallen from a landing plane.

Dr Carla George was on a work call when she heard a massive bang on September 12.

She thought some boxes must have fallen in the attic at her home in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

But when she went to investigate, she realised she could see blue sky - and found a large block of ice on the floor.

The 45-year-old, a field researcher in criminology who recently completed a PhD, called the fire brigade.

She claims a firefighter told her it was likely caused by ice falling from a plane on its way into Heathrow.

She has been quoted £12k to fix the roof, which will be covered by her home insurance.

“I was working in my office room and I heard a loud bang,” she said.

“It’s used as a storage room and I thought it was boxes but I saw the door open and the ceiling completely apart.

“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.

“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.”

Despite being told that the most probable cause of the damage was falling debris from a plane, she said she didn’t hear anything that day.

“We do have planes flying over but I didn’t hear any that day and neither did my neighbour, so that was really surprising,” she added.

“My neighbour said that he used to work on planes and a suitcase once fell out.”

Although temporarily covered over with a tarpaulin sheet, the roof will need a full repair.

Carla George in her home in Banbury, Oxfordshire, September 20, 2023. (Joseph Walshe / SWNS)

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 - just me being shocked and trying to process the whole thing!”

Oxfordshire firefighters confirmed they were called to the home.

They said the hole is believed to have been caused by a large lump of ice which fell from the sky.

The Civil Aviation Authority said 25 ‘ice fall’ incidents are reported every year from 2.5million flights.

Captain John Hutchinson, 86, is a retired Concorde pilot and aviation expert.

He said of the possibility the damage was caused by an ice fall: “It’s not the first time it’s happened, that’s for sure.

“As to why the ice falls - well you don’t flush toilets overboard so to speak, so it won’t be from a loo.

“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.”

John flew planes from 1955 to 1992.