"I heard about 3pm that Steve's air-craft had crashed. It's been horrendous waiting for news. "I heard the weather was not very good. He had planned two routes for the trip and it was his first business trip there. "All the family have been up in planes with him. He has his own grass landing strip at Temple Brawer in Lincolnshire." The alarm was raised by hikers who heard the sound of a low-flying aircraft. Ian Greenwood, from Kent, said: "We were walking in the Marchlyn area when we heard the sound of an aeroplane which sounded quite close. This was followed by a loud bang. We immediately called the police on our mobile phone, but we couldn't see where it had landed." The four man team was dropped off by RAF helicopter at Llyn March-lyn, which lies 600ft below the crash site. Mr Read said: "We split into two groups and headed off in different directions around the lake and up towards the path that leads to the summit of Elidir Fawr. As I walked up the path I saw the shape of an aircraft in the mist." Over 20 members from the Ogwen Valley and Llanberis mountain rescue teams raced to Bwlch y Brecan, on the east side of the mountain, to help get Mr Lovatt out of the aircraft. Medical supplies, which included oxygen, were also taken up the mountain. North Wales Police alerted mountain rescue teams. Incident co-ordinator Roger Jones said: "The initial reports were of an aircraft overdue and possibly crashed. Weather conditions were poor all day with low cloud and drizzle. It's absolutely remarkable that somebody can land an aircraft in Snowdonia and survive." Caernarfon Airport managing director Ray Steptoe said: "We not expecting him. None of our aircraft were flying because of the poor weather and he hadn't spoken to our air traffic controller." Chief Flying Instructor at Nottingham Airport, Richard Flanagan, said the pilot was experienced and had planned his journey well. Last night the Civil Aviation Authority said the Air Accident Investigation Branch would be holding an inquiry. | 
