A pilot and a trainee narrowly escaped serious injury after their plane crashed metres away from a busy road.

Firefighters believe the combination of a fire training car and a row of trees stopped the light two-seater aircraft from shooting out into the path of oncoming traffic on Maidstone Road, Chatham, after it came off the south end runway at Rochester Airport on Saturday afternoon.

The road was closed for two and a half hours to traffic travelling in both directions while crews from Medway, Strood and Ashford cleared a large amount of fuel which had leaked from the aircraft. Emergency services remained at the scene until 6.20pm.

Martin Simmons, watch manager for Strood fire station, said: “The two people on board the two-seater aircraft were very lucky.

“Its wheel clipped a car at the end of the runway as it tried to take off again, which we believe helped slow it down.

“It bellied down a grass bank and then went nose first into some trees, which no doubt stopped it going any further.

“As it was three metres away from a road we were concerned about the ignition hazards, such as someone flicking a cigarette from their car window, so we closed the road in both directions while we put a foam blanket down on top of the fuel.

“A recovery vehicle moved the plane away from the road.”

Paul Richardson, manager of Rochester Airport, said: “The aircraft, which is a Biggin Hill-based aircraft, with a student and instructor on board, requested a touch and go landing at Rochester Airport and the incident took place during that. The car hit by the aircraft was one we use for training. The emergency services were fantastic. They were up here within a few minutes along with the Air Ambulance, although they weren’t needed.

“We were also praised by the fire service for our own fire brigade attending the incident.

“It’s a shame about the aircraft but the main thing is nobody was hurt. A full investigation will be carried out and the findings published in due course.”

Biggin Hill-based flying school Cab-air, which owns the plane, would only confirm when contacted yesterday that one of its planes had been involved in an incident at Rochester Airport on Saturday, but declined to comment further.