A pilot had an amazing escape from the mangled wreck of his light aircraft which plunged thousands of feet to the ground after suffering engine failure.
Mess - miraculously the pilot was pulled out of this wreckage with non-life threatening injuries Picture: ROB BROWNE
The two-seater Longeze aircraft narrowly avoided electricity pylons and cables as it made a rapid descent before ploughing into farmland at Rawreth Lane, Rayleigh, at 1.25pm yesterday.
The plane flipped upside-down and disintegrated as the fuselage came to rest.
Amazingly, nearby neighbours did not hear the crash - and were only alerted to the wreckage by a motorist who saw the plane plunge from the sky.
Neighbour David Burton helped the pilot, believed to be from south Essex, from the wreckage of the aircraft, a fibreglass, kit-assembled plane designed for high speed, long range travelling.
He said: "He's so lucky - it's just amazing.
"To look at the wreckage and to see the pylons he flew through I can't believe he's alive. He was covered in blood with cuts to his head when he came out, but he was conscious and seemed all right."
Published Thursday December 18, 2003
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