A pilot's skill and quick thinking saved his life and that of his passenger yesterday when he crash-landed in a field, narrowly avoiding a clutch of high voltage cables in the process.
Although shaken, the two emerged unscathed from the microlight plane, which was only slightly damaged, earning praise from fellow pilots for his prowess under pressure.
Pilot Paul Soler, 46, said he was "shaken but happy to be alive" even though everything about his demeanour suggested he had quickly regained his composure.
He and his 42-year-old passenger, Edwina Soler, were returning to Luqa airport after a sightseeing tour around Gozo when his engine stalled. He had only been in the air for 50 minutes.
Although he was flying at around 1,500 feet, which is standard for this sort of plane, Dr Soler said he did not panic.
He issued a May Day to the Luqa control tower and started looking for a place to land.
He had very little time as the plane was losing altitude fast and the Mtaħleb area which he was overflying is 800 feet above sea level.
The airport was too far away - about eight kilometres - so he decided to make an emergency landing in a field.
He spotted a patch and crash-landed his plane on what later turned out to be a vineyard. In doing so he managed to avoid some high voltage cables that were just 15 metres above the ground - by flying underneath them.
Dr Soler, who has over 200 hours of experience and is considered a veteran pilot, said he glided for about one minute between the engine cutting out and landing the plane on the soil.
The aircraft was only slightly damaged, mainly in its undercarriage, and only because it hit a brick trench as it landed. It came to a halt just a few metres from where it came down.
The plane is a Savannah microlight weighing just 250 kilogrammes and with an 85bhp engine. It is the first plane that, in 2004, was built from scratch in Malta.
Other aviation enthusiasts arrived on the scene upon hearing about the incident. They congratulated Dr Soler for his ability to ground the plane without serious consequences.
"You've done a great job Paul. Well done," one of them told Dr Soler as he joked that this was why they called him "the veteran".
The doctor pilot's training and experience proved to be a life-saver, they said.
Sources said the Air Accident Investigation Bureau has launched an investigation into the incident. Rather than pinpoint who was to blame, the bureau would look into how safety for these small planes could be improved.
The police are investigating.
A similar microlight incident took place in 2000 when it crash-landed in a field near Ta' Qali due to an unusual atmospheric condition which downed the plane. The plane crashed into a rubble wall and the two people on board were injured. More recently, in June 2004, the pilot of another microlight made a precautionary emergency landing on a stretch of unsurfaced road in Marsascala after having doubts about whether the engine was running properly.
In September 2007, pilots Adrian Vella Gera and Swiss national Melina Hunziker luckily escaped unhurt when their Tecnam P-92J Echo single engine plane crashed in a field in Luqa.