The family of the pilot who crashed near Oxford believe he may have deliberately brought down his plane in woodland to avoid nearby houses.

Father-of-three Tom Miller, from Chipping Norton, is in a critical condition at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital.

Mr Miller was flying a Piper Seneca plane from Plymouth to Oxford airport when it crashed in freezing fog in Wytham Great Woods, after sending a distress signal just after 5pm on Wednesday.

His wife Johanna yesterday said she believed her husband would have tried to bring the plane down away from nearby houses and the busy A34.

Mrs Miller, 49, said: "I understand he was quite brave. He is a very skilful pilot and that would have been his utmost priority.

"He is doing fine, he is stable at the moment. He is sedated, because they are having to do lots to him. It is still early days."

Mrs Miller added her husband, 52, had been a full-time pilot with Kidlington firm AirMed for about three years and had worked part-time for the company before that.

She said her children - Charlotte, 26, Sam, 23, and Anneka, 20 - were supporting her at their home in Folland Close.

Mr Miller's eldest daughter Charlotte Miller, 26, said: "Dad's very down to earth, he's a very kind-hearted, good person. He takes his job very seriously. He is very dedicated and he loves helping people.

"We're a very strong family and my mum is like the real rock. She's keeping us all going, so we're staying positive and just hoping he will pull through."

Miss Miller said she first found out her father was missing at 5pm, when AirMed called to say they had lost contact with him.

She said: "The plane was located about 8pm and at about 8.30pm he was found alive, which was a huge relief.

"We're eternally grateful to everyone who searched for him, particularly the police officers who found him and the fantastic effort that they went to and all the paramedics and the staff at the John Radcliffe.

"He's very strong, we're sure he would have been really brave. He would have been fighting for his life - he is a fighter."

Her brother Sam, 23, said: "He has been flying for years, he has been an instructor, a commercial pilot as well. A very experienced pilot, a very cautious pilot as well.

"So what happened during the flight is a real mystery at the moment, because he would have taken precautions with the weather conditions and all that sort of stuff."

Two staff from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch in Hampshire spent yesterday combing through the wreckage for clues about how the crash happened.

AAIB spokesman David Stewart said light aircraft such as the twin-engined PA34 Piper Seneca Mr Miller was flying did not usually have black boxes to help establish the cause of any accident.

But he said: "They will want to talk to the pilot if and when he recovers. They will want to look at the pilot's log and the conditions."

A spokesman for Oxford University, which owns the woods, said the area would be sealed off over the weekend and refused to allow the Oxford Mail to access the site.