A BLOCKED fuel nozzle may have caused a North Yorkshire plane crash in which the pilot was killed.

Eyewitnesses told an inquest yesterday how they saw smoke from the left hand engine of the twin-engine plane before it crashed into a field near Thirsk last June and burst into flames.

The sole occupant of the six-seater Piper Aztec, 64-year-old Frank Walker, a builder from Silsden, West Yorkshire, had failed to gain height after taking off from Bagby Airfield, near Thirsk.

He tried to make an emergency landing at the airfield, but was going too fast and could not stop before the end of the runway, and took off again, but the aircraft only reached between 100 and 150ft before crashing into a field at the entrance to Thirkleby Hall Caravan Park, yards from the A19.

The plane hit the ground with such force that both wings snapped off and the fuel tanks ruptured. The inquest heard how the aircraft had undergone an annual service and inspection a week before the crash and the engines were subjected to ground testing.

Rex Parkinson, senior inspector with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, said he found one of the fuel nozzles in the left engine was blocked, possibly by aluminium that had corroded from a sealed valve.

"There is no requirement in an inspection to dismantle that valve, until you suspect there is a problem," said Mr Parkinson. "It wouldn't be apparent in a major way until you applied power."

Coroner Michael Oakley recorded a verdict of accidental death.