People living in a house at Shoreham had a lucky escape this year when a light plane struck it while they were out.

As the pilot, Donald Campbell, received only minor injuries, the crash was simply a one-day wonder for most people.

But it was a much more serious matter than that as a report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch reveals today.

Mr Campbell, who was intending to land at Shoreham Airport, was carrying less reserve fuel than was needed for the flight and the fuel gauges on the plane were not accurate.

He showed some skill in landing the plane where he did without injuring himself but the emergency should never have occurred in the first place.

Had the Monahan family been in the upstairs of the house at the time, they could have been killed or seriously injured.

There have been other crashes involving light aircraft recently, some involving loss of life and others, like the one which handed on the beach near Hove Lagoon, ending without injury.

In the Campbell case, it seems clear that stricter measures are needed to see that these planes are carrying the right amount of fuel.

There are stringent controls over passenger-carrying jets of the kind that operate from major airports such as Gatwick.

Judging from the number of incidents involving light aircraft these days, extra checks are needed to prevent incidents like the one at Shoreham involving loss of life another time.

These aircraft are more than capable of killing people on the ground as well as pilots and their passengers.