TWO YOUNG men who destroyed a plane that crash-landed in Fife have been ordered to pay the aircraft’s owner a total of £5000 in compensation.

Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard yesterday that David Webster and Robert Robertson had been drinking before they set fire to the £60,000 Cessna.

The plane came down in a field near the village of Aberdour last May while on a flight from the north of England. Both the pilot and his co-pilot survived.

Webster (24), of Humbie Terrace, Aberdour, and Robertson (20), of West Preston Street, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to wilfully setting fire to the aircraft some time between May 23-24 last year.

Depute fiscal Tracy Plant told Sheriff Craig McSherry the incident happened at Dalachy Farm, near Aberdour.

The pilot and his co-pilot set out from east Yorkshire and were heading for Cumbernauld when they got into difficulties and were forced to make an emergency landing.

Ms Plant said the plane sustained minor damage and was left secured by the pair who then caught a train back to Yorkshire.

Witnesses saw the plane intact at 3.45pm and again at 8pm.

During the evening of May 23 the accused were at Webster’s house watching football and drinking alcohol. They were joined by a friend, and later that evening all three decided to go and look for the plane.

When they found it, Webster and Robertson were seen getting into the plane where they set fire to one of the seats in the cockpit.

Their friend told them what he thought of them and left the scene.

The farmer found the burned-out aircraft at 7am the following morning.

Webster and Robertson were caught after they were heard talking about the incident.

Solicitor Marjorie Socha, representing Webster, said the plane’s front wheel was sheared off in the landing.

The engine cowling and the propeller were damaged.

“It was interest in the plane that took them there,” Miss Socha said.

“It appeared to be exciting to them.”

Webster simply got “carried along by the excitement of it all.”

Solicitor Andrew Robb, representing Robertson, said, “He felt he lacked the courage to step away from the situation and got swept along.

“He is very remorseful for what has happened. He describes it as the biggest single mistake he has made in his life.”

The depute fiscal said the aircraft’s owner received £57,000 from his insurers.

Sheriff McSherry told the accused, “I find it extremely concerning that young people such as you come across something which has been described as an exciting incident—such as a plane crash-landing—and your instinct is not to explore the plane and leave, but to destroy it.”

He accepted it would not be realistic to ask the pair to pay for the full cost of damage, but said some form of limited compensation might meet some of the losses sustained by the aircraft’s owner.

He ordered them each to pay £2500 in compensation and to carry out 200 hours of community service.