A LOOSE carburettor has been blamed in an official report into an incident in which a light aircraft had to make an emergency landing in a field near Radlett Airstrip shortly after taking off last November.

The incident, in which a sheep was killed when it was hit by the landing aircraft but from which the pilot walked away unhurt, is probed in a newly-published Air Accident Investigation Branch report.

The report says the 1993-built MW6 aircraft, registration G-MYCU, took off from the airstrip at Radlett at around 1pm on November 20, but that shortly after take off, the pilot, who had 300 hours flying experience, noticed a drop in engine speed.

He turned back to the airstrip but as he approached the engine seized.

Despite this, he managed to land the plane in a field just short of the runway, causing minor damage to the plane but killing a sheep that was hit in the landing run.

The report says that later investigation revealed that the plane's carburettor was loose and that this had allowed air to enter the manifold, weakening the fuel mixture and causing the seizure.

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