AN INVESTIGATION has been launched into a microlight crash near Bradford on Avon which left a pilot with serious leg injuries.

Fire crews and paramedics were called out to a field near the B3109 at South Wraxall on Saturday when a Three Axis Thruster microlight crash-landed minutes after taking-off.

The Bradford on Avon pilot, who is in his late 50s, was trapped when the plane's crumple zone folded on top of his leg.

After being freed by fire crews from Trowbridge, the injured pilot was rushed to the Royal United Hospital in Bath. Surgeons are expected to transfer him to the Bristol Royal Infirmary within the next few days for further treatment.

A second passenger, from Swindon, who owns the microlight, walked from the crash scene unharmed.

Health and safety officers from the British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA) are looking into the circumstances of the crash but believe windy conditions could have been to blame.

The microlight took off just after 7pm, reaching a height of 250 metres, before running into trouble. The pilot attempted to land the plane but a wing struck the ground.

Fire crews from Trowbridge, including an Emergency Support Unit, were scrambled to the scene to help clear up a fuel spillage and cut free the trapped pilot.

BMAA crash investigator Ray Wilkinson said he was waiting for the pilot to be discharged from hospital to get his version of the incident.

He said: "We are a bit short of eye-witnesses. I hope the pilot's report will back up our initial thoughts.

"There was a lot of downdraft caused by the nearby trees.

The weather conditions were terrible.

"They were both very lucky, it is a testament to the aircraft which has a life-saving crumple zone.

"If it were solid they would probably not have survived. It didn't plummet to the earth as the pilot was trying to land the microlight," Mr Wilkinson explained.

"The pilot was a very experienced Thruster pilot.

"At the moment he has completely blanked out the crash."

An accident report will be filed by the BMAA within a year.

There are 3,500 registered microlights in the country with more than 4,000 qualified pilots.

The Three Axis Thruster is based on an Australian model commonly used by outback farmers to round up sheep.

Similar microlights are manufactured in the UK at a factory in Cornwall.