A rescue helicopter assisted the recovery

Steve Lovatt from Nottingham is still being treated at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor, after he crash-landed his two-seater aircraft on Elidir Fawr.

The National Trust used a helicopter on Saturday to lift the Piper Tomahawk onto a lorry, which removed it for examination by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Mr Lovatt is still poorly but in a comfortable condition and has come through the worst of his injuries, according to police. He was being treated for head injuries.

Reports on Thursday suggested that the pilot had to make a forced landing in the area, above the Ogwen and Nant Peris valleys.

Mr Lovatt's is now in a comfortable condition

Flight Lieutenant Kate Diacin, who piloted the Sea King rescue helicopter which rescued Mr Lovatt, said a rapid weather change could have caused the crash.

"He might have come into some bad weather - if the cloud base lowered quickly, he could have got disorientated and flown into cloud," she said.

"He was very lucky to get away with it. There are hardly any flat areas to land a helicopter, let alone a light aircraft that needs a good 200m to run on."

Initial reports had indicated Mr Lovatt had, remarkably, emerged unharmed from the crashed wreckage of his plane.

The pilot was airlifted to hospital

He was stretchered down the mountain to a position from where he could be airlifted to hospital.

But doctors at Ysbyty Gwynedd showed concern about the nature of his head injuries, and he underwent a number of tests.

A team of air investigators arrived in Snowdonia on Friday to try to find out why his light aircraft crash-landed.

There are few plane crashes in Snowdonia - the Ogwen Valley mountain rescue team estimates such accidents happen about once every seven years.