A PILOT heard "an almighty bang" and a blast of air blew off his headset as a horror incident forced a plane to crash land near Kinglassie.

The cockpit canopy on a light aircraft flew off shortly after take-off from Fife Airport in August, an investigation has found.

The newly-published report on the air crash has blamed the canopy latch which did not fasten properly.

The 2004-built Zenair – registration G CDAL – registered in the name of Graeme Ferguson, trustee of the Leven-based G CDAL flying group had only reached around 150 feet in its take-off climb out from the airfield when the report says the pilot heard “an almighty bang” and a blast of air struck him, blowing off his headset.

The report says that the 70-year-old pilot, who had more than 800 hours of flying experience had difficulty controlling the aircraft, reduced power and made an emergency landing ahead in a field of barley.

However, the barley crop then caught the wings and as a result the plane suffered serious damage to its fuselage, wings, propeller, the canopy and its undercarriage.

The pilot only suffered minor injuries.

The pilot later told crash investigators that he had carried out all the necessary checks to ensure that the canopy latches were in place, but thought that something had been, “Fouling the right canopy latch mechanism,” and that this had caused the canopy to fly open.