A PLANE struck a line of trees before crash-landing onto the A40 in Abergavenny, according to an air accident report.

The Piper PA-28-161 Cherokee Warrior II and its three crew members came to ground shortly after leaving Abergavenny Airfield on June 25.

The instructor, his student pilot and a passenger suffered minor injuries, while no-one else was hurt.

A report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) stated that the left side of the runway is located close to a line of trees that borders the A40 trunk road and, in the instructor’s words, “there is not much room for error”.

The aircraft, under the control of the student pilot, began to veer left towards the trees during take-off procedures.

Despite the instructor's best efforts, he was "unable to prevent the left wing from contacting the trees", which resulted in a "loud bang" from the left wing.

This subsequently caused the plane to yaw to the left, rotating through 180 degrees into the trees and out the other side, before landing on the A40.

The cabin of the aircraft was in the right-hand lane of the southeast-bound carriageway and the tail in the central reservation.

Fortunately there were no road traffic collisions with the downed aircraft.