A BRENTWOOD pilot who crashed his light aircraft on a Kent airstrip has blamed his own lack of experience in an official report of what happened.

The 2009 built Savannah Jabiru – reg G TTAT – flown by owner Alan Newman Green of Timbertop, Weald Road, South Weald, Brentwood, was about to land at Stoke Airfield on the Isle of Grain in north Kent when the crash took place on July 17.

A newly published Air Accident Investigation Branch report says the aircraft “stopped flying and hit the ground with a great thump,” damaging the plane but leaving the pilot and his passenger uninjured.

It adds that the 75-year-old pilot who had 425 hours flying experience, but only seven of them on this type of aircraft, had been planning to land about a quarter of the way along the runway.

It continues: “The weather conditions were good but the westerly wind was reported as being gusty. The approach was flown at 50kt with the intention of touching down a quarter of the way along the 530 m runway.

“The pilot stated that, at a height of approximately 10ft, ‘between round-out and flare, the aeroplane stopped flying and hit the ground with a great thump.’

“The aircraft was extensively damaged, but the pilot and his passenger were unhurt and vacated the aircraft normally. There was no fire.

“In a candid report, the pilot considered that the accident was caused by his lack of experience on this type of aircraft.”