A NORTH YORKSHIRE village was the scene of two dramatic incidents when a plane crash-landed and a man was rescued from the river.

The relative calm of Linton-on-Ouse was broken by the two emergencies yesterday afternoon.

In the first, the pilot of a light training aircraft averted disaster when he was forced to land at RAF Linton-on-Ouse with part of his aircraft's undercarriage stuck.

Meanwhile, firefighters were rescuing a man who had to spend an hour in the River Ouse after falling into the water while fishing at Linton Lock.

The Tucano aircraft was on a routine training sortie from the RAF base yesterday when the undercarriage on the right of the plane became stuck in the retracted position.

Emergency crews looked on as the pilot, Flight Lieutenant Dick Guyatt, brought the training aircraft in to land with just two wheels down.

Thanks to Flt Lt Guyatt's skill, both he and his colleague, a trainee pilot, walked away unscathed from the plane, which was itself only slightly damaged.

A spokesman for RAF Linton-on-Ouse said: "On a routine training sortie, a Tucano aircraft based at RAF Linton-on-Ouse suffered a technical malfunction of its undercarriage.

"The malfunction caused the right hand undercarriage to remain in the retracted position.

"The pilot carried out a textbook emergency landing on the runway at RAF Linton-on-Ouse.

"There was no damage to any public property, with only slight damage being sustained by the aircraft.

"Once the aircraft had come to a complete standstill on the runway, both the aircrew vacated the aircraft safely, they were uninjured.

"During the incident all the emergency services at RAF Linton-on-Ouse were placed on an increased readiness state."

Meanwhile, firefighters had to rescue a man who spent an hour in the River Ouse hanging on to a tree after falling in at Linton Lock.

Mr Glover said that firefighters managed to pull the man out of the water after they were called to the scene at about 1.40pm yesterday.

The man was taken to York District Hospital as a precaution because of the amount of time he had spent in the water.

PICTURE: Fire crews attend the crashed Tucano aircraft at RAF Linton