TWO men had a lucky escape after their light aircraft crash landed in a field.

The pilot and passenger, both from Teesside and in their 50s, managed to climb out of the Grumman AA-5 aircraft after it clipped a tree, careered across a field, crashed into a wall and landed in a field.

After the crash, at Selby Farm, near Morpeth, North-umberland, on Sunday, both men initially refused medical treatment.

But after one admitted he had a shoulder injury and the other had chest pains, they were taken to Wansbeck Hospital and later released.

The wall, belonging to farmer Robert Potts, was shattered by the private four-seater plane, which had set out earlier in the day from Teesside Airport for a private air strip behind the farm.

Mr Potts said: "These two men were lucky to walk away with their lives. I was inside when I heard a loud bang and came out to see what happened. I couldn't believe it, there was debris everywhere."

A police spokeswoman said an investigation had begun