The pilot of a light aircraft who made an emergency landing in Alderney on Monday was philosophical about the incident yesterday.

‘These things happen,’ said Mark Eddleston (pictured(, who is a company director.

‘In the end I was just happy to get the plane landed and get out of it in one piece.’

He said his plan was to drive back to his Sunderland home. That should happen after two engineers from Doncaster had been sent to assess the aircraft, which was forced to land after losing power during a flight to Jersey.

The plane’s problem, believed to be either a faulty valve or turbo, was fixed in Alderney before the engineers, along with Mr Eddleston, set off for Doncaster at 2pm yesterday.

Despite the circumstances, Mr Eddleston said he had enjoyed his unscheduled visit to the northern isle describing it as ‘a really beautiful place’.