Efforts to recover the wreckage of a light aircraft which crashed on a Perthshire hillside should resume this morning after poor weather hampered the investigation.
Police and members of the Air Accidents Investigations Branch were forced to delay further work at the crash site near Abernyte due to torrential rain and high winds on Tuesday, but recovery teams are due to return to the scene at 9am this morning to try again.
A Chinook helicopter is expected to be used to lift the wreckage of the plane off the hillside and take it away for further examination, while investigators wearing bright orange suits will continue their painstaking search for further clues as to what may have caused the crash.
Andy Thompson, 37, a first officer for budget airline Jet2, and businessman John MacKinnon, 53, both died when the plane came down in adverse weather conditions on Sunday.
A major search operation was launched on both land and sea before the wreckage was discovered in the hills between Abernyte and Kinnaird.
Mr Thompson and Mr MacKinnon had been travelling from Inverness to Dundee when their plane disappeared from radar.
With weather conditions expected to ease slightly today, the Air Accidents Investigations Branch is optimistic that the operation to remove the plane from the hillside will go smoothly.
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “Police Scotland continue to carry out investigations at the scene along with partner agencies.
“Due to the nature of the incident, this is a slow and meticulous process and, as a result, there are no set timeframes involved.”
The wreckage of the light aircraft remained near the top of the hill overnight, partially covered by blue tarpaulin, while other debris could be seen scattered nearby.
It is not yet known who was flying the plane when it crashed, although it is understood that Mr Thompson had around 10 years of experience flying professionally with Highland Airways.
He later worked as a demonstration pilot for American aerospace manufacturer Hawker Beechcraft, and had been with Jet2 since December 2013.