Engine Failure on Takeoff Ends in Scary Crash Landing

There really isn’t much to say here except YIKES!!! The pilot of this Beechcraft Bonanza just happened to have three cameras attached to his plane when he took off for this flight and they captured the dramatic, jarring impact in full HD. According to the pilot and aircraft’s owner, the plane was very well maintained and had a brand new engine installed prior to this flight. However, just seconds after taking off, the engine inexplicably stalled, leading to the pilot having to scramble to make as soft a landing as possible.

His immediate response was to try to circle around and land on the nearby roadway, but powerlines in the vicinity would have made an already difficult landing that much harder. Instead, the pilot looked ahead and noted the best possible spot to put the plane down, and did the best he could to lessen the impact on himself and his passenger. He decided to aim for the smooth ground just across the meandering stream that cuts through the terrain, gliding the plane down masterfully from an altitude of around 200 feet. As he approached the chosen landing area, the pilot pulled back on the plane’s controls to slow the craft, while keeping it from stalling and dropping flat onto it’s belly.

He parked the plane on the grassy spot just past the water, and while the plane itself was a total loss, both the pilot and passenger survived with only minor injuries. The plane’s engine has been run on a test stand and seems to be fine, and there has been no determination made as of yet by the NTSB as to the cause of the plane. Thankfully the pilot had the presence of mind not to panic and handled the situation about as well as it could have been handled given the abbreviated amount of time he had to make a decision and plan his reaction.