A light aircraft crashed into a field of sugar beet after running out of fuel in mid-air, an investigation found.
The 56-year-old pilot "force-landed" the Team Mini-Max at Northrepps Airfield, Norfolk, in December.
He admitted an "unfamiliarity" with the "aircraft and its fuel consumption", the air accident report said.
The aircraft "flipped inverted" during the crash landing, but the pilot was uninjured. Members of the local flying club helped him escape the cockpit.
In the report the pilot said he "misjudged the glide performance of the aircraft with a stationary propeller" and in attempting to land on the runway "feared he would not be able to clear some power lines which ran across the approach".
Source: http://www.bbc.com
http://www.aaib.gov.uk
Whilst overhead Northrepps Airfield after a local flight, the engine suddenly stopped.
The pilot states that he misjudged the glide performance of the aircraft with a stationary propeller and, in attempting to land on the runway, feared he would not be able to clear some power lines which ran across the approach.
He therefore force-landed the aircraft in a field of sugar beet but, as soon as a bar which stretched between the two landing gear wheels entered the crop, the aircraft flipped inverted.
The pilot was uninjured but required the help of members of the local flying club to right the aircraft before he could evacuate from it.
The cause of the engine stopping was found to be a lack of fuel which manifested itself when the aircraft attitude changed.
The pilot admits that unfamiliarity with the aircraft type and its fuel consumption combined with overestimating its glide performance with a stationary propeller by about 300 feet per minute were the main causal factors in the accident.
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