‘Remarkable’ escape as plane crashes just 15 yards from Sussex couple
Colin and Gill Griffiths, of Lambleys Lane, Sompting, were walking their two dogs in a field north of Lyons Farm Retail Park in Worthing when they spotted a light aircraft crash through the trees, just a few feet from the ground.
Mr Griffiths said: “I heard my wife shouting. I turned around and saw the plane was just a few feet off the ground, 15 yards behind us, and it hit a fence and some trees.
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Hide Ad“Afterwards, I just remember running back towards the plane and there was smoke coming out of it. I was anticipating it catching fire.”
Mr Griffiths said he saw the pilot emerge from the smoke completely unharmed.
After Mrs Griffiths called the emergency services, Worthing and Shoreham Fire and Rescue crews arrived at the scene.
Worthing station manager Roy Barraclough said it was ‘remarkable’ that the pilot was unharmed.
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Hide AdHe said: “The pilot said the engine started misfiring and then stopped, so he had to make an emergency landing. He eventually hit a fence and did a somersault.”
“The plane was totalled,” he added.
Mrs Griffiths said that she was left ‘shaken’ by the incident.
“I was shocked because it literally missed us by 15 yards,” she said.
Fire and Rescue crews made sure there was no fuel leaking.
The pilot, who is believed to be a man in his 30s, was clear from the plane before the crews arrived and did not need any medical attention.