Mr Lovatt has a passion for his classic cars business

A pilot who survived after crash landing his aircraft on a rocky mountainside in Snowdonia says he believes he is the first survivor of an accident like this in the last 45 years.

Steve Lovatt, 51, from Nottingham, was trapped for five hours until rescuers managed to reach him following the crash last July.

The experienced pilot, who was flying on business to Caernarfon, managed to bring his Piper Tomahawk down onto Elidir Fawr above the Peris and Ogwen Valleys after bad weather closed in.

Still conscious, he was able to talk to rescue crews as the struggled to reach him. Eventually, he was cut free from the wreckage and taken down the mountain by stretcher to a position where he could be airlifted to hospital.

At the time rescuers said it was "absolutely remarkable that somebody can land an aircraft in Snowdonia and survive."

Where I put it down is the only flat place possible and it's what saved my life.... "I believe I'm the only survivor in 45 years. Steve Lovatt

Afterwards Mr Lovatt was in a critical condition in hospital in Bangor for three weeks before he was transferred to Nottingham where doctors rebuilt his face with metal plates and treated him for a fractured spine and broken collar bone.

Nine months on from the crash Mr Lovatt has made an almost complete recovery but says he remembers nothing about the rescue or of his time in hospital.

"I can't recall the actual accident itself but I think I'm very lucky - luck was definitely on my side that day," he told BBC Radio Wales.

He has no idea how he managed to find the only flat area on the mountain to make an emergency landing.

"Where I put it down is the only flat place possible and it's what saved my life.

"If I had tried to go somewhere else, I could have crashed the aeroplane totally.

The pilot was winched to safety after being carried down the mountain

"I believe I'm the only survivor in 45 years."

His luck seems to have stayed with him because he now has made an almost complete recovery. He puts that down to two things - the support of his family and his love of vintage cars.

He also admitted he was a very bad patient because all he wanted to do was to get back to his job restoring the classic vehicles.

"That's really your self-motivation, because it makes you want to get up and do things."

Mr Lovatt says he wants to fly back to Snowdonia soon to thank his rescuers.

"It's really just a matter of pushing on with things but I've really got no worries about wanting to ever fly again.

"I do want to buy myself another aeroplane and get back up in the air."

An official report into the crash is due in the next few months.