Mr Lawrence, of Avon Place, Aylesbury, crash landed in fields near Quarrendon two weeks ago. Yesterday, he described his ordeal for the first time.

At first everything went smoothly: he had a faultless take off and rose to a height of 150 feet. However, as he was banking to the left to avoid the floodlights of Meadowcroft all-weather pitch, the cables attached to his wing began to get tangled up - a potentially catastrophic situation.

Mr Lawrence knew he had less than 15 seconds to save his life.

"I knew I was in trouble," said the 50-year-old, who started paramotoring (as opposed to engineless paragliding) three years ago. "In that situation your brain sharpens up and all the training comes into play. It is the repetition, the practicing. If I had never had the training I don't think I would be here today, I would have panicked and fallen out of the sky and died."

He says he performed a textbook crash landing: "I could not have done it any better."

However, Mr Lawrence admits he was extremely lucky to land feet first, rather than head first which could well have been fatal.

The first people to reach him were nearby residents Elsie and Dave Pullinger, of Vincent Road, who amazingly already knew him. "They come round to the field sometimes so I got to know them - it is such a small world," he said. "I chat with them often, and they have a dog who just sits there and watches me as I'm in the air."

"I have already been round to see them to say thank you for helping me," he added.

Much to his own amazement, doctors at Oxford's JRII Hospital, where he was airlifted, found that he had not broken any bones, although he did sustain bleeding to his brain.

"As I was tumbling and doing somersaults my brain was hitting my skull, and I was bashing my head on the frames," said Mr Lawrence, who has 20 hours of air-time experience of paramotoring.

"I get headaches but that is what the doctors told me would happen. I'm on paracetamol and it's just a matter of time before I heal. The emergency services were great, when you're in trouble like that you can't wish for more."

The father of two grown-up children says he is undecided whether he will continue his hobby, although he added that his wife Lynn, a nurse, does not want him to get back into the air.

But Mr Lawrence, who owns a roofing firm, said: "Of course there's a risk. When I'm up there I get scared but the enjoyment outweighs the fear - it brings home how beautiful the world is.

"It is just like when I'm on a roof, you have to control the fear because if you don't things get worse."