“The fuel is kept in the wings so once the wing ruptures, then the potential for fire is significant.

“So it’s not a given that if the wall had not been there, it would have been a completely different outcome.”

Mr Kingswood said he would be “surprised if the airfield hadn’t met all the requirements in accordance with industry standards”.

“I suspect if we went around the airfields at a lot of major international airports… we would find a lot of obstacles that could similarly be accused of presenting a hazard,” he added.

Aviation analyst Sally Gethin questioned whether the pilot knew the barrier was there, particularly given the plane was approaching from the opposite direction from the usual landing approach.

She told BBC News: “We need to know, were (the pilots) aware there was this hard boundary at the end?

“If they were directed by the control tower to reverse the use of the runway the second time around, that should come out in the investigation of the black boxes.

“I think there are so many questions.”