TWO men had a miracle escape when they emerged alive from the mangled wreckage of their light plane, which crashed during an attempted emergency landing near a North Yorkshire airbase.
The Europa craft came down in a field on the boundary of RAF Linton-on-Ouse, sparking a major rescue operation.
The two men in the plane, which officials said took off from Wombleton Airfield, near Helmsley, en route to Kent, were flown to York Hospital in an RAF Sea King helicopter for treatment for shock and neck injuries.
An ambulance chief told the Evening Press the pair - believed to be Dutch - were "extremely lucky" to have survived.
Geoff Farnworth, an emergency planning manager with the ambulance service, was told the plane had engine trouble before the crash. Mr Farnworth said the craft was upside down and had been ripped in half.
He said: "By the look of the wreckage they were extremely lucky to have survived."
Local parish council chairman Derrick Jauncey said villagers were shocked by what had happened.
He said: "The first we knew of anything was all these emergency vehicles descending on the village, including two air ambulance helicopters - I have never been in the village when there have been so many sirens were in the area."
Farmer Andy Bell, of Bridge Farm, whose field the plane crashed in, said it was the first time anything like it had happened.
He said: "It's a huge shock to be honest. It's just one of those things that you never expect to happen so close to home."
Group Captain Andy Sudlow, RAF Linton-on-Ouse station commander, said the pilot had declared an emergency and asked for permission to land at the military base before crashing into farmland on the airfield boundary.
Fire crews from Easingwold, Acomb and Ripon were scrambled at about noon yesterday.
Ambulance officials praised the work of RAF medics who were first on the scene and treated the two men.
The RAF and the Civil Aviation Authority are expected to launch separate investigations into the cause of the crash.
Updated: 10:38 Friday, December 10, 2004
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