The incident occurred yesterday afternoon on a farm next to the Doornkop township, near the N11.

Mr Juan Steenkamp (26), is the co-director and pilot at Platorand Lugbespuiters. He started flying at the young age of 17, and has 10 years of flying experience in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

Juan described what happened, moments before his aircraft plunged into the ground.

He was busy crop spraying one of the fields, and had just completed one of his lanes when his aircraft started drastically losing power.

The first thing he thought of was to dump his load to lighten the aircraft, hoping that he would make it back to the nearby airfield for an emergency landing.

Moments after dumping the load, white smoke started billowing out of the aircraft’s exhaust and oil from one of the cylinders was spattered across the windscreen and wings.

Juan realised that he would not make the airfield and that he would have to make an emergency landing in one of the nearby fields.

As he descended, the wet conditions of the field resulted in him losing control and his aircraft flipped onto its roof, where it eventually came to rest and he climbed out of the wreckage with minor injuries.

Juan explains that he is thankful he never sustained any serious injuries. The aircraft he was flying in, a Grumman Ag-Cat is a very sturdy plane specifically designed to handle the high-risk job.

It has a very strong cockpit, meant to protect the pilot and much like a car, has several crumple points that absorb the impact of a crash.

Juan has over 130 hours of flying experience in this very aircraft.

While the aircraft still lies in the field, Juan expects to be back at work soon, to help ease the workload.

The aircraft has not yet been moved while the company waits for feedback from the Civil Aviation Authority. Guards have been posted to watch the aircraft, and members of the public are warned not to approach the aircraft as an assessment of the scene needs to be done.