THESE were the dramatic scenes which unfolded near the sleepy village of Wanborough yesterday morning as a light aircraft was forced to make a crash landing in a field just minutes after take-off.

Villagers living near the field, which lies next to Mount Pleasant Farm, in Horpit, have described the moment they heard the GA8 Airvan take off at nearby Redland Airfield before the engine fell silent.

Moments later, an agitated young skydiver raced across the fields to their house for help.

Ros Elmes, of Mount Pleasant House, said: “We heard the plane take off and we thought the engine sounded a bit weird, it was really rough. I am very used to the sound of the planes flying overhead and this didn’t sound normal.

“Then within seconds it went silent and we expected to hear a crashing noise but nothing came.

“It must have skidded in the field, but they are all so lucky to be alive, they must have been scared stiff.”

The aircraft had taken to the skies shortly before 10.20am in icy conditions as temperatures plummeted well below freezing over the weekend.

Within less than a minute, the plane began struggling to maintain its height and the experienced unnamed pilot was forced to make the emergency landing just half a mile from the airfield.

Villager Richard Elmes said he became concerned when he looked out of his kitchen window and couldn’t see the plane.

“I normally see it climbing up but I couldn’t see anything this time and it sounded like the engine had completely cut out,” he said.

“I saw one of the skydivers running towards me indicating that he needed a phone and he seemed really agitated. He told me the plane had crashed and I asked if anybody was hurt.

“He told me the pilot had broken his leg.

“He was only a young lad and he said the most terrifying thing was that when they hit the ground and stopped, the undercarriage completely broke and they couldn’t get out of the plane.

“They managed to get the door open and get the pilot out, cover him up and put a rug over his legs – he was quite an old chap.”

The plane landed just yards away from a large, burnt-out barn building, in a field owned by farmer Richard Green.

Richard said: “When I saw the pilot, he looked dazed as you would expect, but ok. His skill and bravery helped get the plane down safely, missing the few houses and barns which the planes from the club regularly fly low over.

“They were all massively lucky. They could have hit a house, telegraph pole, barn, anything, but the fact that the pilot managed to glide the plane down landing in a rock hard field was testament to his skill.”

Bruce Johnson, a parachute instructor at the airfield, said all eight skydivers escaped unhurt, but the unnamed pilot was airlifted to Great Western Hospital with a broken leg.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch will now launch a full investigation in to the incident, and one of the early lines of inquiry they will consider will be the impact of the icy weather.