A PLANE that crashed on take off and hit a man out walking his dog had a loss of engine power, an investigation has concluded.

The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) this week published a report into a crash on October 27 last year at Panshanger Airfield, in which a Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee came off the runway and crashed into a safety barrier.

The plane struck WGC resident Clive Winsor, who was walking his dog along the public footpath next to the airfield.

Mr Winsor told the WHT in February that the accident had left him on crutches and unable to work.

The AAIB report said a trainee pilot and an instructor were practising “touch and go” landings when the engine suddenly “hesitated”.

The report says the instructor “aborted the takeoff and applied brakes but was unable to stop the aircraft before it crossed a ditch and impacted a fence at the aerodrome boundary”.

The AAIB report added that carburettor icing was a possible cause for the loss in engine power.