Pilot and passenger hurt in plane crash

Aug 7 2006 By Steve Johnson, Birmingham Mail

A PILOT and his 80-year-old passenger had a miracle escape after their light aircraft nose-dived on to a field in Staffordshire.

The two-seater microlight got into difficulties after taking off from Otherton airfield, Penkridge, near Cannock, yesterday afternoon.

The Kitfox aircraft crashed on a field at High Hall Farm, Blymhill, Weston-under-Lizard, near the Staff-ordshire-Shropshire border, at about 2.30pm.

A spokesman for the County Air Ambulance said today that both men had a very lucky escape.

"We flew two patients to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, at Stoke-on-Trent. The younger patient, a man aged 44, had a fractured left ankle and was complaining of neck and back pain.

"The other man did not have any obvious fractures, but was suffering from pain in his neck and back, both legs and his left arm.

"They were trapped for five or ten minutes and the plane was badly damage. We gather it nose-dived to the ground."

One of the men comes from Featherstone, near Wolverhampton, and the other from Stone, near Stafford.

The Civil Aviation Authority has launched an investigation into the cause of the crash.

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