A truck driver who witnessed a light plane crash near Kirwee said he knew something was wrong moments before the aircraft flipped onto its roof.

The light aircraft came down in a paddock near an airstrip on Station Road on Tuesday morning.

Cameron Snell said he was driving his work truck past nearby fields when he saw the aircraft approaching.

“I saw the plane coming in for a sketchy landing and thought, ‘He looks like he’s about to crash.’ Sure enough, he did,” Snell said.

“The plane flipped, so I pulled over, rang the ambulance, then ran over to check on him.”

Snell said when he reached the pilot, he was already standing outside the aircraft.

“I asked how he was and he let me know he was fine,” he said.

Snell said the pilot appeared unfazed by the incident.

“‘Caught the bloody back wheel on the electric fence,’ was his response.”

Senior Sergeant Hamish Keer Keer, of Canterbury Police, said emergency services were called to Station Road, Kirwee, about 10.20am after a report of a hard landing by a small aircraft carrying a single occupant.

“No serious injuries have been reported. Police are assisting the Civil Aviation Authority, which has been notified,” he said.

Three fire crews from Kirwee, Burnham and Rakaia attended the scene.