A PLANE has crashed into a motorway, leaving the pilot dead and drivers pulled over watching the wreckage burn.

The small Aquila aircraft plummeted into the highway around lunchtime on Tuesday after taking off from a nearby flying school.

Footage taken by drivers shows plumes of thick black smoke and flames rising from the debris.

The horror crash happened near Breda, around 37 miles from Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.

Motorists pulled over to the side of the road and watched the fire, unable to drive past the ruined plane.

One car was damaged in the crash, but there were no injuries beyond the deceased aviator.