A Cessna 172B pilot in Mexico had to save his plane after his aeroplane propeller detached in flight. Yes, detached. Plonk. You can see the action from the cockpit in this video, including the exhilaration and relief of the passengers at the end.
“I’ve never felt death so near,” says one of the women who was travelling in the back. “Our propeller fell,” repeats the copilot after getting out of the plane, which landed successfully on a road. Skip to the end to see the Cessna’ nose without its propeller.
I love how the pilot kept his cool at all times, even thinking about puttingthe GPS away to avoid hitting the passengers behind with it in case of a rougher emergency landing. And of course, the screams of happiness at the end. [Thanks Iván!]
Mike
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 4:27 PMMan I would have messed my pants pretty bad. And also would have been in hysterics the whole way down.
Ozoneocean
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 8:01 PMThe relief in the voices on landing is what makes it! I wonder if it was towed afterwards to be parked in front of that rock or if that is actually where it stopped? Because if it did that’s another bullet they dodged!
SilentWolf
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 8:05 PMDepending on where you are, it shouldnt really be that bad as the plane can just glide back to the ground.
Sylver
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 9:03 PMWhen landing a light aircraft with no powerplant, the major complication is that it’s so easy to lose airspeed due to crosswinds and bad or unavoidable manuvering.
I don’t think it’s as much being easy to manuver to safe ground as actually staying in the air long enough to get there.
Foles
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 8:42 PMThats nothing! Happens every week on the Skywest flight from Perth to Albany!
Pat
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 8:51 PMWas the co pilot opening up his window to reduce speed and force the plane to bank?
Andrew
Monday, February 6, 2012 at 12:48 PMPat, this is a standard emergency procedure .. you open the doors this way if you hit anything you have clears exit as they are all hinged forward..
Alex
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 11:21 AMIf my memory serves me correctly Cessna 172′s are very comfortable gliders if held at 62knots (pretty sure I remember right). If they are un-powered they can generally glide long enough to find a make shift runway or airfield. This is all given that the pilot was flying at a reasonable altitude.
When you do “forced landings” as a cadet you actually learn how manageable it is to land a light plane (such as the 172) without power.
This is not to say the pilot didn’t do a great job though. Most people will panic in these situations. Clearly he is a great pilot!
Alex
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 11:22 AMAlso not that “crosswinds” wouldn’t be so much of an issue as the pilot would generally turn towards the wind and find a safe landing pad in that direction.
Alex
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 11:22 AMnote*
George
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 7:31 AMService history? what’s that?