A 66-year-old pilot blamed his own inexperience when he crash-landed at Oxenhope airstrip, near Keighley.

He escaped injury but the light aircraft sustained substantial damage as it pitched into the ground on September 1 last year.

Details of the incident, involving a Tecnam Echo single winged aircraft which was coming in to land, have been released by the Air Accident Investigation Branch.

The official report says the accident happened in the afternoon in good weather.

The plane was built in 2002 and the pilot, who has not been named, had 1,285 flying hours under his belt, but he had not handled that type of aircraft before.

The aircraft owner, Jeremy Bodnarec of Buttershaw Drive, Bradford, later gave a complete and frank report on the accident.

An AAIB spokesman said: "The pilot was experienced in short field operations, but had not flown the aircraft type before nor received training on it.

"During the landing at Oxenhope, in good weather but with a stiff breeze, directional control was lost.

"As the pilot began a go-around, the left main landing gear wheel struck a bank, causing the aircraft to yaw and pitch into the ground."

The pilot had felt under considerable pressure as he had spotted the plane's owner on the ground opening the hanger doors for it to be put away when it landed.

After the crash, he was able to vacate the aircraft in the normal way after shutting down the engine.