A WELL-RESPECTED gyrocopter pilot has died after his craft crashed into woodland.

The man, named locally as Dave Chaplin, from Borrowby, near Thirsk, was pronounced dead at the scene after the accident yesterday afternoon.

The gyrocopter came down in woodland near the White Horse, at about 2pm, shortly after taking off from the airfield at the Yorkshire Gliding Club at Sutton Bank, near Thirsk.

Sergeant Ben Frank, of North Yorkshire Police, said it was not known what caused the craft to crash, but the accident was not thought to be suspicious. He said the gyrocopter hit trees in Hood Grange Wood as it fell near the cliff and came to rest on a path, which has now been cordoned off by the police and can only be reached on foot.

Sgt Frank said the police continued their investigations overnight, and the national Air Accidents Investigation Branch was to visit the crash scene today. He said the coroner had been informed.

Mr Chaplin, who was married with grown-up children, was a former chairman of the Yorkshire Gliding Club and worked at the Sutton Bank airfield. He was well respected in gliding circles and the region's clubs were last night in shock at the news of his death.

Yesterday, members comforted each other in the club's headquarters.

An ambulance service spokeswoman said: "We were called at 13.56 to the gliding club on Sutton Bank on the A170 to a report that a gyrocopter had crashed going towards the hills on the A170. It had crashed into a wooded area."

Gyrocopters, also known as autogyros, are a type of aircraft that look like a cross between an aeroplane and a helicopter. The craft was made famous when it was used as a gadget by James Bond in the film You Only Live Twice.

Updated: 10:22 Thursday, December 16, 2004