A small Cessna plane makes an emergency landing in Orlando, Florida on Aug. 19. Dramatic video captures incidents as they occur. Amazingly, the pilot was gone and there was little additional damage.
Actually, the correct term here is crash landing. The Cessna 182 is seen in the video as it stops over University Boulevard in Orlando. In this example, we are referring to an aerodynamic stall – the point at which the wing loses lift due to reduced airflow over it. The plane crashed down, turning slightly to the right as it hit the road right in front of a heavy bag of traffic. The pilot somehow managed to dodge not only another car, but also a power pole and wires. Cessna stopped just off the road in the driveway, nose stuck to the ground.
According to the follow-up report from NBC News, the pilot was Remy Colin and yes, he stayed away from the crash. However, he did not leave unscathed. He seemed to have hit his head hard enough to open the wound on his forehead. However, considering this was a legitimate crash on a busy road, a head-on collision and a crooked plane were the best scenarios in this situation.
As for the cause of the crash, Colin admitted frankly that he misjudged the fuel. That’s a smart way of saying he’s out of gas, and it could pose problems for him going forward in the eyes of the FAA. Pilot awareness is obviously important, because someone doesn’t just pull over like you would in a car if it’s running out of fuel. It’s not clear if the gauges weren’t working, but pilots were also taught how to calculate fuel usage with a known amount in the tank. As a general guideline, pilots should never approach empty. Or at least, that’s what your humble writer taught at a private pilot school years ago.
In any case, Colin survived the crash and the only damage was to his Cessna. It wasn’t the smooth emergency landing we saw in July, but the situation could definitely be much worse.
