The pilot (in other interviews) admits to being pumped on on adrenaline. He's obviously a bit distracted in his first radio call, "Mayday Mayday I have to pull my parachute!"

I always wondered if you would have any control after pulling a plane chute. It looks like he could still steer a bit.

The guy rebuilt his airplane by the way. I think I'd be a Freaked Out Chatty Cathy going down.... DELTA PAPPA UNIFORM IS GOING DOWN !!! I AM GOING DOWN!!! I'M CRASHING INTO SOME FIELD! Of course Europe is evenly populated so you can crash anywhere. Crash in Alaska and you are bear food in an easy peel container.

I dunno deathcow, this video made me think it belonged in Horrorshow; those sounds creeped me out! But it is definitely *spacy

Adding video to channels (Spacy) - requested by twiddles.

Wow, the sounds too.

I think I would have spent another 5 seconds evaluating the glidability of the plane and looked around for suitable landing site before popping my $xx,xxx parachute. What a sense of relief though that BRS chute provides. Just 1 minute earlier this guy is flying effortlessly through beautiful skies, and then we're looking at green grass through the unbroken windshield. I know I would have got out of that plane and jumped for joy at standing on that green grass. I have been in a couple "easily could have been fatal" accidents and the sense of relief afterwards, standing away from the vehicle and looking at it all, is summarized in those green blades of grass seen through that windshield.

I'm probably ignorant here, but what the heck is a plane chute??

I didn't even know planes had chutes.

Its a ballistics parachute, sorta like what bombs have, just bigger. Honestly, I've never accually seen one used, ever (other than this video). But then again, we dont get many plane crashes around here.

BRS says their chutes have saved 206 lives so far...
http://www.brsparachutes.com/default.aspx

Might want to change the title, it doesn't look like the crash was prevented to me.

And the description could use some corrections too:

"He ejected his ballistic recovery parachute and floated his entire plan to Earth with no power."

You don't eject a parachute, you deploy it, if you eject it, it wouldn't do any good. He didn't float the plane, the plane still fell, but was slowed by the parachute.

fdisk: no, you can't control a plane after deploying a recovery parachute, they're usually used as a last resort.

I'm pretty sure I've seen this on here before too.

Oh and the crash was the fault of the pilot in this plane. The right of way rule is if the other plane is on your right, they have the right of way. He should have been looking for traffic, and given right of way to the tow plane.

i see another plane on the left center at the start of the video, so i guess the skies were busy

Thanks Jimnms I fixed the text, but I like my title. This amazing crash prevented an amazing crash of a different nature. The title leads you in that something is not going to go as you expect with this video.

> Oh and the crash was the fault of the pilot in this plane.

Are you sure you can determine fault from this video? Right of way would go to the plane on the right if a concious avoidance was made by two planes on a collision course. "You move!" "No you move!" "I'm to the right, so I have the right of way!" Right of way does not mean if a plane collides into the right side of your aircraft that it is automatically your fault because it came from the right. (correct?) / (incorrect?) IANAP (though I have 20+ hrs solo time and would be excited if pilot died of a heart attack and I got to fly the passengers to safety)

That guy is lucky that wasn't here in BC. That would have been a pot grow-op he crashed into and he would have survived just to be shot.

Aside from which plane is on the right, the tow-plane has the right of way by virtue of the fact that it was towing another aircraft. An aircraft towing an object is usually operating much closer to the edge of its performance envelope than a normal, powered aircraft which gives it the right of way. From the evidence presented in the video, it does appear that the pilot that crashed was at fault.

Rights-of-way are as follows: aircraft in an emergency, balloon, glider, airship, tow plane, heavier-than-air powered aircraft.

this is another example of something I've seen numerous times in my years as a private pilot. at the first sign of trouble the pilot pulled up instinctively (in fact both pilots did so. had the pilot who crashed nosed down or maintained a level attitude, he probably wouldn't have impacted the wire, as far as I can see here.

I've seen lots of incidents in which that instinct to yank back on the yoke/stick causes the accident...mostly on approach/departure stall situations.

I'm just amazed that he deployed the chute in such an extreme bank angle, seems as though his first thought was of the chute and not righting the aircraft and looking for a landing spot (which he should have had picked out already)

One time on landing (Cessna 150) the right brake locked on me and the aircraft spun to the right HARD. Instinctively, like in an automobile, I jerked the yoke to the left to "turn away" from the unwanted direction. By this time the left wing had come around to facing down the runway and was going down to the ground, (in a split second) by this time having the yoke turned left was totally undesirable. Instinctive responses are not always good. Fortunately I did not smash the airplane or take out any runway lights. I spun the aircraft and ended up off the runway. Instructor said "My aircraft!" That was my last flight lesson.

i might be wrong, but im fairly sure those chutes arnt legal in the uk (remember my dad bitching about how he wasnt allowed one on his aircraft), which is dumb as they save lives.

I agree with Imperiousdesigns, it appeared that he had ample time and plenty of options for landing the plane... including the RUNWAY in front of him. While a parachute may save lives it can also be a crutch that is relied on instead of proper flight technique. GPS can get in the way of being proficient at proper navigation skills, for instance.

Oh well... at least nobody was hurt.

I think he panic'd a bit. The rope caught his prop, looks like the event damn near flipped him over and spun his aircraft, I think his panic was cured almost immediately with the big red parachute button (big striped lever? have no idea.) Cant tell if he lost his prop entirely. I had a friend whose prop fell off on takeoff, and he crashed into a gold course next to the airport.

I'm I being ignorant in thinking that surely a plane of that size could have glided home quite easily without its engine?

No, you are right - the glide ratio on a light plane like that is quite good and I would have enjoyed the video more if he had relied on piloting skill to set the airplane back down on the runway rather than... AAAHHHHH!!!!!! MUST PULL PARACHUTE!!!!!

Engine out landings are a skill that is required in order to earn a pilot's license and should be frequently practiced afterward along with other basic skills such as stall recovery, spin recovery, dead reckoning, etc. After all, you never know when an emergency situation might develop.

*wings

Adding video to channels (Wings) - requested by kulpims.