A PILOT died when his twin-engine plane crashed into a field after narrowly avoiding the busy A19.

The man, who has not been named, was the sole occupant of the six-seater Piper Aztec.

It veered across the A19 before crashing into a field at the entrance to Thirkleby Hall Caravan Park, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, at 12.40pm yesterday.

The plane caught fire, but police are not sure whether the blaze broke out before or after the crash.

The aircraft had taken off from Bagby Airfield, half a mile away, minutes earlier.

Police believe it was trying to return to the airfield when it went down. The pilot was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ian Smailes, 40, and his wife Sue, 39, live in a gatehouse near the scene of the crash.

Mrs Smailes said: "I heard this terrible noise. It was like screws rattling in a tin can - but a thousand times louder.

"And then all of a sudden it went quiet. There was no explosion or anything like that, just a silence."

Motorist Jeff Moore, from Thirsk, said: "The plane swung across the A19, with smoke trailing from its body. The next thing I heard was the explosion as it crashed into the field."

He said two men tried to get near the wreckage to help survivors, but were beaten back by heat and smoke.

Horse-trainer Geoff Harker, 38, said: "The pilot tried to loop around, trying to turn back towards Bagby Airfield, and as he did the plane flew directly over the top of me.

"Then he dipped down and there was just this great big puff of black smoke."

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance attended the scene, along with 20 police officers and 25 firefighters.

John Dundon, owner of Bagby Airfield, said the plane had taken off to head back to its home airfield.

Acting superintendent Ken McIntosh, of North Yorkshire Police, said police officers would be at the scene for the next 24 hours.

"At the moment, we don't know if the plane was on fire before it landed, or whether the fire broke out on impact," he said.

"We have two main lines of inquiry, firstly to identify the pilot and secondly to establish exactly what happened."

A team from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch was last night heading to the scene from its Aldershot base.

Witnesses who saw the plane are asked to call police on 0845 6060 247.