I witnessed a plane crash today....right in front of me!

[Baz]

Fortunately.....the pilot walked away.

I was driving back from a nursery after picking up plants...on a back road I use here in N.S.B. and I notice over to my left a single engine aircraft flying fairly low and he's going back and forth - left and right each time the plane rolling - if that makes any sense. At first I thought he was practicing low altitude acrobatics but then the plane goes down very low and is heading for some trees.

At that point....I KNEW he was going to crash.....and things got VERY surreal for me!!!

The plane crashed through a small cluster of trees and spun around as it laid in the ditch on the side of the road. I was about 30 feet away with no one else around. I immediately pulled over, grabbed my cell phone, jumped out, and headed toward the plane while dialing 9-1-1.

All of a sudden within' seconds....a small explosion and fire on the far side of the aircraft. I figured it was a (the) fuel tank.

I was thinking I may have to pull the guy out of the plane...would the door be jammed...I may have to pry it open...those kinds of thoughts...

FORTUNATELY.....just seconds later the pilot popped out from the other side of the plane and walked across the road.

Damn....what a RUSH!

I finally got an answer on 9-1-1 and told the operator what happened. By then several other vehicles arrived and several people surrounded the pilot so i got back in my truck and drove off - snapping the pics below as I went by the aircraft.

I knew the area would be cleared when the emergency folks arrived and didn't want to be in the way.

Here's the story on the local news:

Downed aircraft causes small fire in New Smyrna Beach

I'm about to download my dash cam memory card and see if it shows anything.

[masraum]

Wow! Glad the pilot was OK, or at least, OK enough to be walking around. I wonder what the issue was. It sounds like there must have been an issue of some sort.

[pavulon]

thought it was gonna be a Mustang.

Sincerely glad it seems to have turned out relatively well. All of those turns may have been the pilot intentionally shedding altitude trying to get to the pasture for an emergency landing.

[Baz]

Steve, I forgot to mention there's a hanger community called the Spruce Creek Fly-in right across that field he flew over. (John Travolta has a place there). Anyway - I bet that's where he originated from and there was some mechanical issue that reared it's head right away.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by pavulon

All of those turns may have been the pilot intentionally shedding altitude trying to get to the pasture for an emergency landing.

That makes sense.....

[tcar]

A-36 Beech Bonanza with tip tanks. Wonderful airplanes.

This plane, I think...

https://flightaware.com/photos/view/3998091-fdb5dcd69759db38a28dbc9ce9e5c505eb5f9f3e/aircrafttype/BE36/sort/votes/page/15

Looks like it flew from Connecticut to North Carolina to Daytona Beach (Spruce Creek).

Then to that ditch.

Glad he was OK... the only door(s) are on the right side.

[Dantilla]

Baz, curious how well you'll sleep tonight. Your mind will be replaying that over and over.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

Baz, curious how well you'll sleep tonight. Your mind will be replaying that over and over.

This happened hours ago Dan -- and I'm still a little freaked out......so surreal......

[Baz]

Originally Posted by tcar

A-36 Beech Bonanza with tip tanks. Wonderful airplanes.

This plane, I think...

https://flightaware.com/photos/view/3998091-fdb5dcd69759db38a28dbc9ce9e5c505eb5f9f3e/aircrafttype/BE36/sort/votes/page/15

Looks like it flew from Connecticut to North Carolina to Daytona Beach (Spruce Creek).

Then to that ditch.

Glad he was OK... the only door(s) are on the right side.

Wow....good job tcar.....

[widebody911]

Any landing you can walk away from...

[quicksix]

5' to the left and that guy center punches that palm.. could've ben a lot worse with the engine driven back into the cockpit..
Good on ya Baz..

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

Baz, curious how well you'll sleep tonight. Your mind will be replaying that over and over.

Yes. I watched a woman die in a car crash. Took a few cocktails for me to get to sleep that night. Nothing I could have done, but I was right there and .... I couldn't do anything.

[Dantilla]

A guy who posts on an aviation forum I visit is friends with the pilot.

Pilot said his shoulder harnesses saved his life.

Not all small airplanes have shoulder harnesses. Many lives have been lost in otherwise survivable crashes when the upper body slams forward and the face/head smashes into the instrument panel.

[stomachmonkey]

You did not try to save any of the trees?

[HardDrive]

Cool story, great photos. Thanks Baz.

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by Baz

... so i got back in my truck and drove off -...

As an eyewitness, the NTSB may be interested in getting a statement from you.

[slow&rusty]

Incredible...glad the pilot survived!

[rsNINESOOPER]

It is truly surreal to see a plane crash right in front of you like that, glad the pilot was unhurt.

Seeing that kind of thing play out in a bad way will scar you. I saw a plane crash when I was 14, (twin engine beechcraft I think) killing all 5 passengers. I was first to the crash with my BMX bike and I ran up to the plane which had gone down nose first from about 500ft at the top of a hill and two figures were partially visible in the wreckage. I was 30ft from the plane as I ran toward it to try and help when it burst into flames. The heat was incredibly intense and I turned and ran the opposite direction to get away from it. A minute later a few more people arrived and then the fire department, police and news crews. I had ditched my BMX bike at the fence I had climbed over to get to the hill I was on and that's where all the news crews, fire trucks and police were. I decided to wait it out just above the area where the crash site was and observe everything until it was over. It took forever and eventually I had to face the straggler news crews posted up next to my bike just waiting and knowing someone would come back for it. I had to walk down the hill with their spotlights and cameras on me and then have the questions and microphones shoved in my face. I was already shell shocked from seeing the plane crash and then standing helplessly by while I watched two bodies burning in the wreckage. I don't remember even talking to the news crews but they got a few words that had details they did not already have. I was on the 10 oclock news and the next day at school everyone was asking me what happened.

I felt really numb and withdrawn. It still haunts me even now to the point that every now and again when I visit my mom I drive over to the dead end street and the fire road gate I left my bike at and look up the hill. Strange how my memory is crystal clear up to the point where the plane caught fire but the rest is more jumbled.

"The five who died when their plane slammed into a hillside and burst into flames were the pilot, Earl Tanner, 66, of Saratoga; his two grandsons, Frank Tanner, 14, of Saratoga and Christopher Stewart, 14, of Castle; Earl Tanner's housekeeper, Bobbi Jean Richardson, 51, and a family friend, Tom Swarner, 39, of San Jose, the Contra Costa county coroner's office reported"

[Craig T]

Wow Baz! Close call. You were brave to even walk up and consider helping, with so many plane crashes ending up in flames. Glad everyone was OK.

A friend just sold his Cessna 182 Skyline. I asked why, because I knew he loved it. He said..."With small planes, it's not if you go down it's just when and how bad. I've pushed my luck long enough".

[GG Allin]

Should have shot a video of it going down instead of calling 911, what were you thinking?