A broken seat bracket on a small aircraft could have caused the crash which killed the pilot, accident investigators say.

Dave Chaplin, 61, died when his gyroplane crashed in woodland near the White Horse monument, at Kilburn, North Yorkshire, in December last year.

Experts from the Air Accident Investigation Branch could find no definite reason why the aircraft crashed.

But investigators said it was possible Mr Chaplin, from Borrowby, near Thirsk, lost control because a seat bracket failed during the flight.

The report concluded: "No definitive cause of this accident was established as a result of the investigation.

"However, the possibility that the pilot lost control of the gyroplane, due to control difficulties precipitated by the seat attachment bracket failure occurring on the accident flight, could not be dismissed."

Investigators said the aircraft nose-dived from an altitude of no more than 20ft.

It had taken off moments earlier from the airfield at the Yorkshire Gliding Club at Sutton Bank, near Thirsk.

Mr Chaplin, who was married with grown-up children, was a former chairman of the club and worked at the Sutton Bank airfield.

Owners of similar gyroplanes are being advised to check their seat attachments.