A TEST Valley woman is urging a Good Samaritan to come forward, claiming they alerted the emergency services to her father-in-law who crashed his plane in a Romsey field this week.

Greg Harrington, 63, was set to fly to Sandown on the Isle of Wight when he collided into a field close to Gardeners Lane on Wednesday at around 4.20pm.

The man, from New Milton, was rushed to Southampton General Hospital after suffering injuries to his head, chest and legs.

Now, his daughter-in-law, Louise Harrington, is appealing to the person who helped Greg to step forward so the family can say "a massive thank you" for reporting the accident.

Louise, 38, said: "We were first alerted to a crash because someone put on the Romsey News and Information Group on Facebook that Gardeners Lane was closed and we knew that was where Greg's plane was kept.

"We did not know he was flying to Sandown that afternoon and at 10pm we got a call from my husband's sister, Sarah, to say Greg was taken to hospital.

"We were desperately trying to get news from the hospital but, because of coronavirus, we could not go down there to see him so we had an agonising wait to get details of his injuries.

"Greg went into surgery this morning and he has a lot of broken bones - his tibia and fibula [in his legs] and his knee. He also had a head and chest injury."

Louise, who lives in North Baddesley, added "it is a miracle he survived" the accident because the light aircraft could have burst into flames, since it was filled with "a whole tank of fuel".

The travel consultant said: "Thank goodness someone called the emergency services that afternoon because Greg was not in a position to raise the alarm."

She believes Greg was unconscious after the crash and was there "for an hour when he just started to come round" at the point the emergency services found him next to the plane.

Louise is now urging the mystery person who reported the accident to come forward so the family can say a "massive thank you" for helping Greg.

When asked if the accident will be investigated, Louise said there will be an air traffic investigation to discover what went wrong for the experienced pilot.

As reported, a spokesperson from Hampshire police said "there is no investigation being carried out by officers" following the incident.

A spokesperson from South Central Ambulance Service said a "rapid response vehicle, an ambulance, a Hazardous Area Response Team and the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance critical care car" were sent to the accident.