A PILOT who crash-landed his microlight aircraft in a Winsford field yesterday was headed for an airfield at Lymm Dam after crossing the Channel.

The 59-year-old Belgian pilot of the Dyn'Aéro MCR01 plane escaped the incident – which saw the starboard wing damaged – with only minor injuries.

An aviation source heard the pilot of the European plane – a rare sight in the area – communicating over the radio at noon that he was en route to the Lymm airstrip off Crouchley Lane. He had set off from Calais.

It is thought that the plane attempted an emergency landing in fields behind Glebe Green Drive but, due to wet and muddy conditions, dug in on touchdown and crashed. Photos suggest that the pilot escaped the cockpit by smashing the window.

Standing in his garden with a builder when the plane crashed around 12.15pm on Wednesday, March 14, Bob Barcoe says he saw the microlight’s tail bounce up in the air.

He said: "It was only about 50 yards from us. We looked out and saw what looked like the tail of a plane in the air.

"The helicopter came fairly quickly along with the emergency services. Because it's in the middle of a field they were running across to it.”

The plane had come over Glebe Green Drive in a south-westerly direction when it came down in a field, its nose pointed at a private airstrip at Ashcroft Farm around two miles away.

Built in France, Dyn'Aéro MCR01 aircraft sell for upwards of 50,000 euros. With room for two people, the five-and-a-half metre-long craft maxes out at around 200mph and has a range of 650 miles.

Emergency services – including the air ambulance – attended but found the pilot had exited the plane and suffered only minor injuries.

Three fire engines attended and were on the scene for around an hour and a half. The plane was not on fire.

Cheshire Police have referred the incident onto the Civil Aviation Authority, and the Air Accidents Investigations Branch – a DfT body – will now investigate.

A spokesman said such investigations are done by correspondence and a report is usually published around three months after the incident.