Plane makes emergency landing on busy Los Angeles road

vostok

vostok

Well-Known Member
A student pilot from Orange County Flight Center performed an emergency
landing on Huntington Beach road in Los Angeles on June 1
after her aircraft reportedly lost power.
This dash cam footage shows the plane hovering low over the streets,
before successfully landing on the road. 55secs/

check the flaps are still up ...lucky to be alive ...lol
 
tangerinegreen555

tangerinegreen555

Well-Known Member
We used to have a local airport here and my buddy was a pilot.

We'd go to the airport and rent a plane for an hour or two.

I remember the first time, I pulled the plane out myself (with a rope out of the hanger). They're real light, you can pull them with one hand.

So my buddy is showing his flight book to the owner to prove he flies enough. The owner then says, 'oh, the electronic fuel injection (or something) isn't working'.

I ask my buddy why we're taking a plane with something broke and he says we don't really need it, if anything bad happens, we'll glide down and land.

I don't think I'd do that today, 40 yrs. later.
 
curious2garden

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
vostok said:
A student pilot from Orange County Flight Center performed an emergency
landing on Huntington Beach road in Los Angeles on June 1
after her aircraft reportedly lost power.
This dash cam footage shows the plane hovering low over the streets,
before successfully landing on the road. 55secs/

check the flaps are still up ...lucky to be alive ...lol
Click to expand...
It was in Orange County in Huntington Beach on the way to John Wayne (SNA), the engine lost power. In a situation like that, flying a Cessna 172 you don't want your flaps down because many cars can slide right under your wings with them up.

You want to come in hotter so you can taxi with the traffic. We drive a bit fast around here. SNA was the airport I learned to fly at and I sat it down on a freeway once upon a time when I lost power LOL Seems female pilots have a thing for streets. Thank you sweet baby jeebus there were no dash cams or cell phones back in my day.
 
vostok

vostok

Well-Known Member
curious2garden said:
It was in Orange County in Huntington Beach on the way to John Wayne (SNA), the engine lost power. In a situation like that, flying a Cessna 172 you don't want your flaps down because many cars can slide right under your wings with them up.

You want to come in hotter so you can taxi with the traffic. We drive a bit fast around here. SNA was the airport I learned to fly at and I sat it down on a freeway once upon a time when I lost power LOL Seems female pilots have a thing for streets. Thank you sweet baby jeebus there were no dash cams or cell phones back in my day.
Click to expand...
who cares the flaps hitting other cars

as a pilot you need to reduce ya landing run to avoid hitting others

reduce you roll by 2 thirds

the fact she forgot the flaps

indicates she was a noob
 
curious2garden

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
vostok said:
who cares the flaps hitting other cars

as a pilot you need to reduce ya landing run to avoid hitting others

reduce you roll by 2 thirds

the fact she forgot the flaps

indicates she was a noob
Click to expand...
You're right, in the point, that as a pilot you are to mitigate injury to civilians and she did that.

I didn't say she wasn't a noob but she stuck that landing. You carry avgas in those wings. If someone takes a flap into their car, depending on the shearing force, it can rip that tank all over the car that struck it and explode. Everyone burns including the car attached to your flap that you just spilled avgas all over.

You land amongst traffic here. So you have to land and taxi in the flow if you have lost your engine there is no speeding up you have to make the off ramp or the shoulder or the median (as she did). The position of your flaps is completely dependent upon traffic, the airframe, and your planned destination at the moment of your off field landing.

We look for fields, but this is the Los Angeles basin, fields are long gone. We discuss street/freeway landings as part of training. She did it right and the evidence is everyone walked, or drove, away.
 
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