A teenage pilot who hadn’t flown for seven months came a cropper when she tried to land her new plane – and couldn’t operate the brakes.

Running out of room on the 1,920m runway at Musina Aerodrome in Limpopo last June, and still travelling at high speed, the 19-year-old veered onto a taxiway.

The nose landing gear broke off the two-seater plane, closely followed by both propeller blades, which left a series of gouges in the tarmac...