A PENSIONER was lucky to escape alive from a plane crash.

Bill Knott, 73, escaped with serious neck and back injuries when his private light aircraft flipped upside down as it touched down at Morgansfield airstrip, in County Durham, on Saturday afternoon.

His co-pilot, also in his 70s, suffered minor neck injuries.

The pair had taken off from North Weald Airfield earlier in the day after attending an owners' convention in Mr Knott's Vans RV two-seater plane.

They were heading towards Mr Knott's home in Inverness, Scotland, and making a routine re-fuelling stop at Morgansfield when the crash happened.

An Air Accident Investigation Branch inquiry is underway.