Isle of Man plane crashed trying to avoid horse

The Cessna 182RG landed upside down after clipping a farm fence

A light aircraft crashed on the Isle of Man after aborting a landing to avoid a horse, an accident report revealed.

The Cessna 182RG overturned after hitting a farm fence before landing upside down in a field next to the Mount Rule airstrip in Braddan.

The pilot earlier "saw a horse appear near the end of the runway" and aborted the attempt, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said.

It was airborne as it reached the end of the runway but hit some farm gates.

The horse was outside the boundary of the airstrip but it was "not clear" to the pilot at the time of 13 March landing, the report said.

The pilot told investigators the aircraft "did not accelerate or climb as expected" as he attempted to take off again.

The pilot and his passenger were not injured and managed to free themselves from the aircraft before the fire service arrived.

The report noted the pilot had 300 hours of experience flying that type of aircraft but had not previously landed on the grass airstrip at Mount Rule, though the passenger had.

He completed three circuits of the area to familiarise himself with the runway.

A video taken by an onlooker showed the plane touching down and it was still on the ground and just over 100m from the end of the runway when the footage ended.

The plane had been flown from Ronaldsway Airport, where it was based.