THE SURVIVOR of a plane crash which happened 30 years ago today has told how the incident changed his life forever.

Cllr Ken Turner, who is a member of the Pendle Conservative Party, was fighting for his life on April 2, 1988, after the aeroplane he was piloting, a Piper Cherokee, crashed into a farmer’s field in Shropshire.

The former plane instructor, who was aged 45 at the time, said he was “lucky” to be alive after the crash left him with a fractured skull, shattered jaw and right foot disengaged from his ankle.

The Barrowford councillor, who worked as a plane instructor in the Midlands at the time of the accident, had embarked on a 90-mile training flight from Halfpenny Green airport in Stourbridge to Anglesey Coastal Path, on the Welsh coast, with student pilot Fred Jones, a millionaire from Oldbury.

Around 20 miles into the flight the engine iced up after it hit freezing cloud at 3,500 feet.

The aircraft made a crash landing into a farmer’s field at Ratlinghope, in Shropshire, four minutes later.

Recalling the moment the plane’s engine stopped, Cllr Turner said he realised he had a problem “on his hands” just 10 seconds before the Piper Cherokee hit the ground.

He said: "I made reference by radio to Birmingham Airport and Halfpenny Green airport and identified where I was.

"I had dealt with two similar incidents two weeks before and in the year prior and so I was quietly confident that we would get out of it. I was being cocky in many ways.

"I was confident we would get out of it until I saw the tops of the trees at 1,500 feet. I realised then that I had a problem. I went into the trees to slow the landing but it took just 10 seconds to reach the ground.

"The next thing I remember is waking up in hospital."

Cllr Turner and Mr Jones were pulled from the wreckage by emergency services and taken to a local hospital.

The Pendle councillor was put on life support and doctors told Cllr Turner’s wife her husband would ‘never’ walk again.

Mr Jones was left in a coma for three weeks, lost his right eye and broke his spine.

The Barrowford councillor woke up seven days later in a hospital bed and stayed there for 10 weeks until he was eventually discharged.

He said: “I remember waking up in a hospital bed and thinking where am I?

“We must have had guardian angels looking over us that day.”

Cllr Turner, who became a councillor in 2001, said he has flown on a plane since the accident but has been told by doctors it is unsafe to fly on his own for medical reasons.

He said: “I had the same love and desire for flying but realistically I realised it was not going to happen for medical reasons and that it was time to stop dreaming.

“I shouldn’t be here.

“I was lucky to survive the crash and realised I shouldn’t focus on the things I’m missing and instead recognise the benefits.”

The councillor, who is now in his mid 70s, said he now “lives on painkillers” because of the regular pain he feels when walking and moving.

Reflecting on the accident 30 years on, Cllr Turner said: “The crash made me realise the glory to have survived and realisation that materialism in life is not significant.

“Since the crash I have had three grandchildren and I would never have seen any of them had I not survived.

“The help and consideration I received from my friends and loved ones have given me has been priceless.”