LiveLeak: Raw video:April 21/09.WINTER HAVEN: As a flight instructor, Kyle Davis teaches his students how to make emergency landings. On Sunday, he got put to the test.
"I was incredibly lucky," Davis told FOX 13. "It was a whole bunch of luck and a little bit of experience."
Davis, and his passenger, a professional videographer, left Gilbert Field in Winter Haven around 10:30 a.m. They were on their way to the Sun 'N Fun Fly in, a 15-minute flight.
Since so many other planes were flying there as well, Davis's passenger told FOX 13 that they thought "it would be cool" to video their trip.
Just minutes after taking off, the engine conked out. Davis got it going again, then it stopped a second time. Then, a third.
"He was just awesome," said John Amundsen, who taught Davis to fly. "I just hope if I ever have a situation like that, I am as cool as Kyle was."
As the plane got closer and closer to the ground, Davis had to make a split-second decision. Land in a nearby lake, or on Havendale Boulevard -- one of Winter Haven's busiest streets.
For whatever reason, there was no traffic on his side of Havendale, so Davis set her down there.
Now people around the world are watching what happened on YouTube. By Tuesday, it had gotten thousands of hits.
Even though Davis may have nerves of steel, a number of words on the video are bleeped out.
"I was saying my prayers," Davis said. "I was saying my prayers."
28 Comments
flechettesays...holy... crap. A+ work!
vairetube"Watch the wing!"
"F*CK THA WING!!"
Just wow!!
dagComment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)
Very cool - they got lucky on that empty street. It's amazing how quickly they go down after it conks - I always thought that small planes could glide for quite a bit more.
calvadosVerr'nice, verr'nice. It looked perfect to this aviator, in fact.
^dag: a Cessna 172 (just for example) can glide 1 nautical mile (6080 feet / also ~2 km) per 500 feet of altitude in calm air. Not too shabby -- the guys in the vid just didn't have much altitude to begin with, I'd say about 1000' before the engine quit. Also, once the pilot had selected his road and found it good, he was setting the kite down soonest rather than keeping it up as long as possible (the road below was good, the road up ahead might have been less so).
(edited)
EDDEven though Davis may have nerves of steel, a number of words on the video are bleeped out.
"I was saying my prayers," Davis said. "I was saying my prayers."
Good thing he knew the holy deity of F*** is most helpful in these situations.
jimnmsHe was lucky indeed. I learned during my flight training that a public road is the WORST possible place to try to land in an emergency. For one thing, roads usually have these things called power lines that run across them, but most importantly you endanger the lives of people on the ground.
I knew a guy that got himself killed when landing on a road. He was landing there on purpose, it was a country road and he was the owner of a construction business that was working on a site there. As he was landing on a section of the road he'd used several times before. A truck pulled out on the road and he had to abort the landing. When he pulled up to go around, his gear snagged a power line, which don't break, and caused his plane to nose dive into the ground and catch fire. The workers at the site tried to get to him, but they couldn't get him out of the plane, and he burned alive.
heathensays...>> ^jimnms:
As he was landing on a section of the road he'd used several times before.
Wow, is that even legal? Obviously it's fine in an emergency case like this video, but to deliberately land on a road repeatedly - don't small aircraft need to file flight plans too?
E_Nygmathe sound of the engine stopping sounds exactly like a censor beep.
MaxWilder>> ^jimnms:
...they couldn't get him out of the plane, and he burned alive.
Um... thanks for sharing.
ForgedRealitysays...Wow.
cybrbeastBetter quality embed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS8dgVCJlec
mintbbb>> ^cybrbeast:
Better quality embed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS8dgVCJlec
Swapped the embed, thanks!
rogueWRXEven BETTER embed (widescreen, HQ available, LONGER)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT58Di51wDk
mintbbb>> ^rogueWRX:
Even BETTER embed (widescreen, HQ available, LONGER)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT58Di51wDk
Lol, thanks, swapped again!
rychan>> ^jimnms:
He was lucky indeed. I learned during my flight training that a public road is the WORST possible place to try to land in an emergency. For one thing, roads usually have these things called power lines that run across them, but most importantly you endanger the lives of people on the ground.
"WORST"? So you would rather land...
1) on a preschool picnic
2) on a munitions factory
3) on a preschool picnic on a munitions factory
I think this guy did a good job. No injuries, no damage to the aircraft. He had a view of the road when he made his decision so he could see about traffic and power lines.
cybrbeastEven better quality HD embed!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0
potchi79Amazing. When they were up higher it looks almost like they could land most anywhere and not be too banged up, but when they get in close to the road it's apparent how fast they were really going and how much danger they were really in.
MorganthBring me my brown pants!
notarobotI love how they pull off the street and into a parking lot all casual at the end. It's almost like that's where they meant to go the whole time.
PaybackSullenberger would have stopped back at the gas station...
siftbotTags for this video have been changed from 'flight instructor, emergency landing, student, engine, fail, land, florida, road' to 'flight instructor, emergency landing, student, engine, fail, land, florida, road, bleep' - edited by jwray
jimnms>> ^rychan:
I think this guy did a good job. No injuries, no damage to the aircraft. He had a view of the road when he made his decision so he could see about traffic and power lines.
Power lines are not easy to see from the air, they're not even that easy to see from the ground. Next time you're out driving around, take note of how close you actually are to a power line before you can clearly see it. Then ask yourself if you could avoid that if you were in a plane with no engine doing 60-70mph.
Worrying about damage to the aircraft should the last thing on your mind when making an emergency landing. Many pilots are killed or injured because they try to save their aircraft.
I just read about this on some news site. In the article I just read, he said they had just taken off and were at 500 ft. when the engine quit.
In the video, the passenger points to the left and asks "can you make that field," and the pilot says "I don't think I can make it." Then he restarts the engine and turns AWAY from the field and directly TOWARD a populated area. Next he continues flying toward the city rather than turning back to the airport they just took off from or a safer place to ditch the plane.
I've never been in an emergency situation like this, but that's why you practice for emergencies during flight training.
dbot2006*dead
siftbotThis published video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by dbot2006.
mintbbbFixed, thanks.
calvados>> ^heathen:
>>^jimnms:
As he was landing on a section of the road he'd used several times before.
Wow, is that even legal? Obviously it's fine in an emergency case like this video, but to deliberately land on a road repeatedly - don't small aircraft need to file flight plans too?
It's not legal to just choose to land on a public roadway without a pressing reason. Doing it for convenience's sake wouldn't fly (ba dum tish) if you had to face a judge about it. Of course it sounds like the site was miles from nowhere and he probably never would've been nailed by John Law if he hadn't augered in.
One *might* be allowed to land (or take off) on *private* property without it being a registered aerodrome, in some cases anyway, but without my air law books in front of me I can't be sure.
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