Elderly pilot suffers minor injuries as plane crashes into back garden

A small plane has crashed into a back garden in Cheltenham.

The 76-year-old pilot, from London, suffered minor injuries in the crash which happened in the Warden Hill area.

The owner of the house in Langdale Road was uninjured when the single-engine Cirrus crashed, a Gloucestershire Police spokesman said.

Police said that during the incident the pilot deployed the plane’s parachute. “The emergency services were called to a report of a plane coming down in the back garden of a house in Langdale Road in Cheltenham at approximately 10.45am today,” the spokesman said.

“The pilot, a 76-year-old man from London, has suffered minor injuries and is currently being treated at the scene by paramedics.

“The homeowner was uninjured. Nearby houses have been evacuated as a precaution while the fire service make the scene safe.”

The scene of the accident is just 2.5 miles from Gloucestershire Airport, at Staverton, near Cheltenham.