Police Rescue Pilot Who Crash Landed Moments Before A Train Obliterates His Plane

[Cy V]

This happened in Los Angeles. I have no idea what he was flying but... Ho. Lee. Cow. ...was that ever a close call.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

A '68-ish Cessna 172

 

[dave wolfe]

For the first time ever, real life imitates TV.
Glad everyone got away from the train. The plane sure got clobbered!

 

[Hephaestus]

Either incident; Sure hope he bought a lottery ticket today.

Together - dude really wasn't meant to die today.

Wow.

 

[Victor Bravo]

This happened at my home airport. We were at lunch anhour away, and after we heard what had happened we drove right to the airport. They drove the crumpled and cut-in-half airplane down the ramp behind a fire truck while we were standing there, and the cops who had rescued the guy were all still parked in the airport parking lot. I heard several rumor/opinion/supposition stories... botched takeoff, engine out on takeoff, pilot simply stalled, LOC, etc. etc. The cause is TBD.

What I will say from 30 years' experience at this airport is that if you have a power out on takeoff and if there isn't enough runway left to slam it back down on the airport property..... those railroad tracks are in fact about the only good option. Everything else in the first half-mile past the airport fence is houses, machine shops, restaurants, auto dismantler junkyards, etc. Another coupleof thousand feet past that are sewage/water settling ponds off to the side that you can land without hurting anyone other than yourself. But the first 2000-2500 feet after the end of the runway is nothing but a very crowded street (San Fernando Rd.) and the railroad track right of way. The craash was parallel to the very end of the runway.

 

[Bill-Higdon]

Blancolerio

 

[Victor Bravo]

The second amateur video camera guy was standing in front of the little Mexican restaurant that my grup of airport bums goes to for lunch every Saturday. They have pretty good tacos....

 

[Mad MAC]

I quite impressed how the rear fuse separates when the train its it.

 

[Dana]

WOW. I read about this a couple of days ago but didn't see the video until just now. I'm still waiting for my heart rate to go down.

 

[bmcj]

Blancolerio

Why do pilots always insist on driving around the railroad crossing arms???

 

[addicted2climbing]

The plane that crashed used to be parked on the ramp a few spaces down from my hangar. One thing I did not see in the crash was a big poof of atomized fuel when the crash happened and I would of imagined that would be seen at impact. I am wondering if the tanks were very low. Also my A&P said the owner had problems in the past with water in the fuel before and boy did we have some serious rain a week or so prior. Not trying to sort this out, but just putting that out there based on the video and past knowledge of the plane.

That video is insane and glad they got him out in time and thankfully he was the only occupant. This morning the reporters were still at the scene doing follow up story's. I fear this will be another feather in the cap for those currently trying to get the airport closed. Those cops are Hero's and while this was a serious incident its nice to see the police get some good press for a job well done on the news. Hope the pilot makes a full recovery.

 

[Victor Bravo]

The Real Estate vermin are already trying to use this to add fuel to their argument against the airport. I gave an interview today (by phone) to a local reporter (who someone recommended to call me for the "aviation" side of the story). So I gave him some common ense answers and let him know that the "real story" here is how unscrupulous people are using a simple accident to promote an agenda to steal an asset from the local community. We'll see....

 

[Dennis DeFrange]

I congratulate all for a spectacular and successful rescue and even though the pilot seemed in severe pain , he was mere seconds from no pain at all . Gruesome and awesome all in one word . Things like this come from above , no pun intended .

 

[Rhino]

...Another couple of thousand feet past that are sewage/water settling ponds off to the side that you can land without hurting anyone other than yourself...

Makes me wonder how many pilots would rather die in a crash than land in a sewage pond. I bet there's a lot of government grant money available to create a study on that. Probably be in next year's budget.

 

[Victor Bravo]

I was there when we rescued and retrieved a friend's sailplane out of a sewer settling pond many years ago. It was dry, but we couldn't tell the difference by the smell!

 

[Martin W]

I quite impressed how the rear fuse separates when the train its it.

My thoughts too .... I also think he may have even survived (with some whiplash) if he hadn't been pulled out.

.

 

[Martin W]

Makes me wonder how many pilots would rather die in a crash than land in a sewage pond. I bet there's a lot of government grant money available to create a study on that. Probably be in next year's budget.

I know a pilot who successfully did an emergency landing into (polluted) Boston Harbor ... he didn't have many injuries but spent 6 months clinging to life in the hospital because of all the infections from the foul water (some got in his lungs)

.

 

[David Moxley]

I know a pilot who successfully did an emergency landing into (polluted) Boston Harbor ... he didn't have many injuries but spent 6 months clinging to life in the hospital because of all the infections from the foul water (some got in his lungs)

Boston Harbor Sounds like a real toilet !

.

 

[Victor Bravo]

Boston Harbor Sounds like a real toilet !

That's Haaaabuh, not harbor

 

[Kyle Boatright]

The Real Estate vermin are already trying to use this to add fuel to their argument against the airport. I gave an interview today (by phone) to a local reporter (who someone recommended to call me for the "aviation" side of the story). So I gave him some common ense answers and let him know that the "real story" here is how unscrupulous people are using a simple accident to promote an agenda to steal an asset from the local community. We'll see....

We drove by that field (and the accident site) on our fall vacation to California. SWMBO even remembers the snarky remark I made as we were driving by. Man, that's a rough area. Little airplanes falling out of the air should be the least of anyone's worries...