Cessna crash caught on CCTV

[Mozella]

If when you see a crash, you say to yourself, "Wow, I'm glad that wasn't me", you'll love this one. The unlucky pilot got REAL lucky right at the end of the event. Note the home owners who move a car out of danger and then stand around watching the pilot burning to death. Whoever came on the scene at the last minute is a real hero. The pilot owes him a cold beer, that's for sure.

qIismdlY6Wg

[India Four Two]

Video with interviews:

Surveillance Camera Captures Fiery Plane Crash, Pilot Walks Away | WNEP.com (http://wnep.com/2016/04/27/surveillance-camera-captures-fiery-plane-crash-pilot-walks-away/)

[KyleTheAviator]

CCTV caught a Cessna crash into a massive tree in Foley, Alabama. Mangled wreck is instantly on fire, then all the fuel from the wings which is all over the ground goes up. Then some fearless guy runs through the flames, and pulled the pilot from burning plane shortly before the fire engulfs everything. VERY lucky guy

https://www.rt.com/usa/341332-plane-crash-fire-video/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HcCtxPoUUg (https://youtu.be/2HcCtxPoUUg)

[OldLurker]

Yeah. First a non-fearless gal runs out, waves her arms, runs back to fetch a non-fearless guy whose first care is to get his car out of range rather than do anything about the crash. Then he comes back and watches. Other guys also watch; a couple of cars drive past without stopping. The fire spreads. Finally the really fearless guy turns up and helps the pilot.

[Pace]

Wow an amazing video those two brave people who ran into the flames to retrieve the Pilot are true heroes who deserve an award for their selfless bravery.
I too agree the fat guy who came on the scene first seemed more bothered about his car getting damaged than the life of those in the aircraft! shame on him

But amazing video

[biscuit74]

To be fair it looks as if the chap who saved his car later went into help removing the pilot.


Lucky pilot!

[Intrance]

To his credit, he does go in after fearless guy #1... Looks to me like no one was really sure if anyone would be alive in there, you can see fearless guy #1 cautiously moving around the wreck at a distance to try and spot someone at first (at least, looks like the same person). I guess once it became clear someone was moving around he ran in and the others joined.


Not everyone will run into danger, and unless you've been in a situation like that and you know what kind of person you are, don't be too quick to judge.

[aterpster]

Intrance:

Not everyone will run into danger, and unless you've been in a situation like that and you know what kind of person you are, don't be too quick to judge.

Very well stated!

[Pace]

I remember in my home town years back a young girl falling into a fast flowing swollen river.
approx 30 people of mixed age watched and did nothing.

It took an old age pensioner who strode into the water to try and save her but failed and she died . It was all in the press at the time

I remember the Police criticising the crowd for not doing anything but then the Police were different.

Having been in a situation many years ago where I was faced with having to save someone! What is better attempting to or living with that picture in your head for the rest of your life? The fact that you did nothing ? I am not that brave to live with that picture )

I know my own choice and doing nothing would be awful to live with. To go and prioritise saving your car makes me sick but maybe people are different and that guy wouldn't loose any sleep over it

[Going Nowhere]

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=186787

[Blueduck]

D stands for DANGER.

As the fire spreads, you can clearly see the car was downhill from the plane.

Perhaps the bloke who removed the car was clearing the area of a secondary explosion risk?

Just saying...

[Alain67]

In France you have to help people (and you'd have problems if you don't), but this is mandatory only if this isn't dangerous for yourself.
Of course, we will always admire those who are able of doing more.

[NorthernChappie]

I'm with Blueduck on that. There is a subsequent flare up of fuel which pretty much reaches where the car was.

[Pace]

In France you have to help people (and you'd have problems if you don't), but this is mandatory only if this isn't dangerous for yourself.
Of course, we will always admire those who are able of doing more

I would say if we are the person needing that help we would be very grateful of those who will do more

[MarcK]

From one of the videos, it looks like the pilot self-extricated and was helped by bystanders. When I was a volunteer firefighter is was drummed into us that the order of safety was: yourself, your crew, bystanders, victim.

[tdracer]

Agreed MarcK - the first guy in to help walks round for roughly a minute, probably wondering what to do, then suddenly sees something. As he rushes in, the guy who moved his car (and had just hung up his phone after presumably calling 911) goes right after him to help.
I'm thinking I would have called 911 before (or maybe while) I moved my car, but I don't see much to criticize in the bystanders actions.

[Chronus]

The tree deserves more praise than the people.

[DirtyProp]

The way I see it, the impact wasn't that bad.
The tree absorbed a lot of the kinetic energy, but obviously slashed the tanks as well.
Notwithstanding the fire, looks like a reasonably survivable scenario to me.

[Planet Basher]

Normal people who find themselves in extra ordinary situations do not behave in a predictable manner.

[ZFT]

Pace,
Having been in a situation many years ago where I was faced with having to save someone! What is better attempting to or living with that picture in your head for the rest of your life? The fact that you did nothing ? I am not that brave to live with that picture )

I know my own choice and doing nothing would be awful to live with. To go and prioritise saving your car makes me sick but maybe people are different and that guy wouldn't loose any sleep over it
Like you, I too have been it that situation (when others were just standing around doing sod all) and I did react but I cannot believe I did so because I wouldn't be able to live with myself otherwise, it just seemed to happen. People do react so differently to stressful and totally alien situations.
Why else would pax just sit on burning aircraft waiting for instructions for example?

[Pace]

ZFT

My hobby is Scuba diving which I did a lot of in my late teens early 20s and came back too for photography when I past 50
We went on a diving expedition to an Island called Giglio off the Italian Coast. Back then many moons ago We had no BCDs and used Navy decompression tables rather than the gizmos around today.

We did a deep dive to 50 meters me and an older army major.

the water was crystal clear. From 25 meters you could look up and see matchstick people on the surface.
The idea was we would stay there a few minutes and then head up to meet two other divers where we would change over to spare air cylinders they had and use those to decompress.

The rubber suits compressed on descent and with no BCD my partner was too heavy.
We were on a very steep slope and the water below dropped to nothing just dark blue/Black
He was much older and not nearly as fit as me back then and had Nitrogen Narcosis which send you punch drunk.

I focused on something on the side of the reef and when I tuned back could see him falling down the side of the slope totally stupid

At that depth there are serious problems including oxygen toxicity and anyone who knows about diving will know what I am talking about.
I was faced with this picture of him disappearing down and knowing he would die and that would be the last I saw of him or going down to get him.

I elected to get him and ended up at 72 meters on compressed air (236 feet) maybe a totally stupid thing to do but you don't think till afterwards

But I was young and very fit. We met the other divers and had to decompress for a long time

That is why I posted here as I am too much of a coward to live with a picture of someone dying and not at least trying to do something those people who don't try to do anything will have to live with that for the rest of their lives. They must be very brave or unfeeling to do that I am not that brave stupid maybe :ok:

Nowadays diving its photography and max 35 meters ) but now I am much much older but still do stupid things probably never really grown up :E
At least I got free booze off him for the rest of the trip

[Huck]

One of my favorite pictures, from Anchorage Alaska in 2010. They ran out of wing to hold on to.....

http://www.adn.com/sites/default/files/styles/ad_slideshow_wide/public/legacy/2010/06/PlaneCrash10.67935.original.source.prod_affiliate.7.JPG?itok =rrTB_v3B

[ZeBedie]

A C421, no passengers shouldn't really be crashing like that because of an engine failure, should it?

[ZFT]

Pace,

I think I understand what you are now saying but if you made a conscious decision to go down after him as opposed to an instinctive reaction, I take my hat off to you.

[RatherBeFlying]

Your ordinary householder suddenly faced with an airplane crash and fire will generally not respond as well as a trained first responder.

They may well have assumed that the occupants were already dead.

Anybody caught in the fuel spill area when it ignited some time later could have suffered serious burns.

I would not be surprised that the pilot had lost consciousness and self extricated once he came to.

People did come to his aid once they saw a live body.

[Pace]

ZFT

It was a long time ago and probably a mix of conscious and instinctive :E I think to be fair what you do at 19 /20 and into your 50s 60s are worlds apart plus I would be the one needing rescue nowadays :E

With a fire there is a risk of an explosion and the rescuer being severely burnt and I take my hat off to those guys in the picture lifting a burning Cessna. Motivation might be more if you saw someone alive and moving rather a wall of flames with no sign of life.

[vaneyck]

From one of the videos, it looks like the pilot self-extricated and was helped by bystanders. Yes. The behaviour of the two men who rushed to the plane after the pilot had extricated himself from 2 minutes in that desperate position reminded me of Dr. Johnson's rebuke to Lord Chesterfield in his famous letter: "Is not a patron my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help?"

[DownWest]

I think I understand what you are now saying but if you made a conscious decision to go down after him as opposed to an instinctive reaction, I take my hat off to you.


Didn't work like that for me. One of our aircraft caught fire in the hanger, I was in the office and heard a 'wump' rushed out, saw a column of smoke, Grabbed a extinguisher and ducked under several wings to get there. Along with another guy, we managed to put it out before the full tanks went (fabric covered a/c) The logical decision would have been to run in the other direction and let it (and the other 22 a/c) burn. We were very lucky not to be statistics, another few seconds and it would have gone very wrong.


Same with another occasion, one of our number went missing on a white water canoeing trip. Figured he had gone the wrong side of the last island, so four of us legged it back to a bit in the rapids where I remembered a shallow area. Two of us made it, while the other two were swept down, bruised, but OK. Found the missing guy trapped in his overturned canoe under a fallen tree, hanging onto a branch to keep his head out of the water.
Point being, it was what one naturally does in the situation. The risk assessment is there, but only to guide the actions. The idea of thinking of living with the 'not have done something' was never even close as a factor.


Edit: Tend to agree with Pace. Those events were in my early 20s and 30s. Bering brave now would probably add to the casualty list.


Just remembered another: Road blocked by people in a small port. Got out to see what the fuss was. Seems a tourist had backed his car over the quay into the water. It was only after I saw a fisherman strip to his nickers and jump in that I realised that their was still someone in the car. There must have been two or three hundred people watching and nobody had made any attempt to do anything. The fire service had arrived by then and got him out. While still alive, he did not survive. Crazy.. The car, while inverted, was only a few feet under the water. A timely exet would have saved the bloke and easily effected if anybody had tried.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

The risk assessment is there
But sometimes it's sadly lacking, as when someone goes into the sea to fail to save a dog and drowns themselves. Didn't that cost the lives of four policemen in one incident?


Is it any surprise if they now stay on dry land and say "sorry mate, not trained for that"?

[Pace]

Is it any surprise if they now stay on dry land and say "sorry mate, not trained for that"?

Think there was an incident recently where a mentally disturbed man was left to drown on police health and safety grounds or something like that.
If it was a little girl and the Police would not go in for health and safety reasons or whatever what would we think then ?

A hero in my definition is one human being putting himself/ Herself at risk for the sake of others
Putting yourself at risk means just that so there is a chance you might not come out of it very well.
Those guys in the picture lifting the burning aircraft were heroes

The Captain of the airline which went down into the Hudson IMO was not a Hero in the true sense as he was part of the event and saving his own neck as well as others. He was not actually putting himself at risk he was part of the risk very capable Yes

[RatherBeFlying]

In Toronto several weirs aka. drowning machines were put in the Humber and Don rivers.

Dog walkers going in to rescue dogs invariably drowned if they were swept over a weir. In all but one case the dog got itself out.

Low head dams are serious drowning machines. People are trapped in the backwash. About the only way to save yourself is to dive for the bottom to reach the current going downstream.

Paddlers are about the only people besides trained water rescuers who understand the danger.

[ZFT]

Pace,

The Captain of the airline which went down into the Hudson IMO was not a Hero in the true sense as he was part of the event and saving his own neck as well as others. He was not actually putting himself at risk he was part of the risk very capable Yes

Whilst I am in total agreement with you, it was reported that after all pax had been evacuated, he went back into the aircraft to ensure that no one remained on board and then upon exiting told the rescue teams not to risk themselves by entering the aircraft as he could guarantee it was empty. If true, then for the act alone, he was quite heroic as it could have sunk at any time.

[Pace]

I was just being pedantic on the word HERO which s very loosely used nowadays
When he landed the aircraft he was part of the situation and not risking himself for the sake of others so while he was very brave very capable not technically a hero
But yes having reached safety had he then gone back into the aircraft to retrieve somebody and hence purposely putting himself at risk then he became a hero
Nevertheless a very brave man and exceptionally cool and capable pilot

If someone puts themselves in danger for the sake of another then there is a chance that they maybe hurt or worse
Health and safety with the Police seems to not want Heros as they can get hurt

[Stanwell]

Ah yes, would-be heroes..


Some years back, while skipper of a Parks & Wildlife patrol boat which I normally operated single-handedly, I observed a person in the water in need of assistance.
It was a bit of a wild day on the water, with the wind gusts exceeding 35 knots.
The person in distress had earlier decided that it was a good day for some challenging windsurfing - and guess what?
There was no sign of his sail-board but fortunately, he was wearing a yellow life-vest.

I had a passenger on board - a Park worker, not a mariner.
Having briefed him on my intentions, I set about positioning the boat alongside the 'rescuee' so that he could be brought on board relatively safely.
This was easier said than done because of the conditions and, as well, the wind and waves were driving us toward a rocky lee-shore.
Things weren't helped, either, by the fact that the windsurfer chap was nearing exhaustion and had swallowed a deal of salt water.

While I'm concentrating on keeping the boat head-to-wind while positioning it, my passenger has decided that he's going to strip off, dive overboard and 'save' the chap in difficulty.
Oh, F***, No!, thinks I.
I dashed from the wheel, forcefully grabbed him and let him know in very plain, concise, yet 'colourful', language the likely consequence of his intended action.
He, at first, wanted to argue with me.

We were, by now, dangerously close to that lee-shore so the only option was to throw the chap a life-ring and get him to hold on to it for dear life while I slowly towed him a safer distance away from those rocks.
Except for him swallowing even more water, that worked well enough and, a bit further out, we were able to get him aboard and on his way to dry land.
Aside from being pumped out and kept overnight in hospital, he ended up quite OK.

As for our would-be hero friend, he was 'sensitively counselled' and I believe it was suggested that he stay away from me for the foreseeable. :*

[Pace]

Stanwell

Point taken but a Hero being somebody who puts themselves at risk for the benefit of others means they put themselves at risk with maybe dire consequences not that they will be awarded a Gold medal for the Heroic outcome.

There have been Mothers who cannot swim jumping into water to save their child where they both drown.

Your guy may have gone over the side and you could have ended up with double trouble

The Picture above the aircraft could have exploded meaning not one death but a further five seriously burnt

My own situation when young and foolhardy turned out great but I was operating in the Unknown and I may not have been here to write this

But I am sure if any of us are in a terrible situation we would be glad of somebody trying to save us rather than standing back and watching us burn ? Or moving their car so the paintwork doesn't get ruined

[Intrance]

I have been lucky enough I guess, to have not yet experienced any situation which involved life or death for anyone if I or people around me did not act.

I do not know how my instincts would handle it, so I'm not going to blame the guys here for not immediately running towards danger. I would hope I would do anything I can to help but you won't know until it happens.

Some of the situations mentioned in this thread involve activities that already have a higher risk and require knowledge and training beyond the level of what you could call an average person.

If you are someone with a 9 to 5 office job and you're out for the weekend to some nice cabin or whatever, you just saw a re-run of the A-Team with vehicles exploding because fuel leaks from them and gets ignited etc... Just saying, different people have different reactions based on their nature, experiences and training/knowledge.

[150 Driver]

The trouble with sudden situations like this is that snap decisions are analysed endlessly by those with time on their hands and sitting in safety.

However, I do wonder sometimes . . .

True story - early morning but daylight I'm driving down a reasonably busy dual carriageway.

A plume of smoke is about half a mile ahead on the opposite carriageway. Cars in front slow down, so do I. As we pass it is clear that it is a major crash has happened - car is un recognisable, smoking, the driver is obviously trapped and unconscious. Sadly we found afterwards that he was almost certainly already dead, RIP.

By now there are a couple of cars that have stopped on the inside lane of our carriageway (no hard shoulder) (Argument for, they might be able to assist, Argument against, they have now caused a possible collision point on our unaffected carriageway). To add to matters, one of the drivers from these cars is standing behind their car (i.e. they will be the thing that gets hit first !) with their mouth wide open.

On the other carriageway, traffic was very quickly coming to a standstill. A good dozen cars had already stopped behind the accident, more were coming behind and people were getting out of their cars.

I took the view that (a) there were enough people there, (b) It was clear that the driver was trapped, obviously didn't know about anyone else in the car (fortunately there were none), (c) I doubt my basic first aid would have helped, (d) the smoke/steam could have led to something worse endangering us, (e) I don't want to become an incident by parking and then being hit (especially as I have my family in the car).

So I kept on driving.

Assessment of anyone watching (on the day or CCTV) - there goes a callous bastard.

However, what I did was dial the emergency services. Bear in mind how many people have already stopped their cars, after giving the details I apologise as the operator has probably already been swamped by calls...to be assured that my call was the first logged !

I think I got the right decision, I'd like to say it was properly thought through, but it could only have been instinctive.

As an aside, later in the day there were photos appearing in the media of the scene which I am assuming would have been taken by phones. So glad people know their priorities.:mad:

[Octane]

Hi Pace,

What went wrong for your diver friend to end up as he did?

[RatherBeFlying]

The Emergency Medical Aid text I worked through some decades ago advised immediately removing the gas cap from any damaged vehicle.

It's pressure that will lead to an explosion. These days you'd have to find and work the gas cap release by the driver's seat, then jam something in to keep the filler inlet open:uhoh:

However many makes have a deceleration actuated shutoff for the fuel tank:ok:

Flash fires from spilled fuel can catch people unawares. The CCTV shows a very good example.

Entering an area where there's fumes is best left to firefighters in turnout attire.

Once the stuff lights up, you know where it is and can navigate around if necessary to save life.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

So I kept on driving.

Assessment of anyone watching (on the day or CCTV) - there goes a callous bastard.
A motorcyclist came off his bike just in front of me on the motorway. I managed to avoid hitting him, and saw in the mirror the bike and driver sliding down the road, and vehicles behind stopping.


I kept going and called the police from the next telephone (this was before the days of mobiles). I judged this more useful than stopping and reversing however far to the accident scene where I would have had no particular relevant skills to offer - and mine was the first call received. Whilst I was still on the phone another driver pulled up and was able to give the police more information about the condition of the motorcyclist.

[Pace]

Hi Pace,
What went wrong for your diver friend to end up as he did?

I was around 20 he was a military major early 40s. Back then we didn't have the equipment we have today especially BCDs where you can control buoyancy
Neoprene suits if you cut them look like an aero chocolate bar full of tiny little air bubbles.

As you descend the suits compress under water pressure and in doing so loose buoyancy.

We normally add weight on the surface to make us neutrally buoyant but as you descend if you weighted wrong on the surface you will be too heavy going down
With a BCD you can adjust that by letting air into the BCD or letting it out
Without a BCD you can only release some of the lead weight you are carrying which then gives a buoyancy problem going back up into lesser pressure.
He was basically too heavy at 50 metres and on a steep slope
Nitrogen narcosis means that under pressure the nitrogen in the air we breath gets compressed and at a certain point can have a narcotic effect.

That will vary from person to person depending on many factors including how fit you are.

He got nitrogen narcosis while I was not nearly as effected as him being back then super fit and 20 :E

Nowadays NO way it would be suicide for me to attempt such a thing at my age

But at 20 you really don't think quite the same and are at a completely different fitness level luckily for him ;)

[oggers]

It is fairly clear in that situation that emergency services aren't going to get there in time to save a life. That makes a difference. The safe thing to do is obviously to keep a distance. Happily, there are still some people around who in such a situation where the cavalry aren't about to ride to the rescue, will risk their lives to help.

[skyrangerpro]

It's a tough call. Save the pilot or the pies in the car. I still don't know what I would have done myself.



Could have been a very different outcome if the plane had gone up a couple of minutes earlier, time was critical.

[mickjoebill]

Having shadowed emergency services for a long time and also in role as a volunteer firemen there is no accounting for how the untrained public will react. Shock is shock, it's a condition rather than an intellectual response.

http://youtu.be/lzObhHet9QM

60% of casualties in confined space accidents are 1st responders.

No Cookies | Herald Sun (http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/father-son-and-worker-knocked-out-by-farm-tank-fumes-in-cloverlea/story-fni0fit3-1226769657073)

As I have a family I'm more standoffish than when I was younger.
Absolutely don't rush in.

Work to your strengths, enlist and manage those around you. Call them by what they are wearing, hey red shirt! Ect...
Something often overlooked with a burns victim is the amount of water needed to cool a burn. So get one bystander to collect water.
Victorian Burns Units (http://www.vicburns.org.au/first-aid/cool-with-running-water.html)
A few liters of water and a roll of cling film is cheap and versatile.
Screw the band aides, go for kit that will save a life in a messy traumatic accident. Trauma dressings rock.


Mickjoebill

[Gertrude the Wombat]

60% of casualties in confined space accidents are 1st responders.
Once Upon A Time the house across the road from our office caught fire.


There was no obvious clue as to whether there was anyone in the house or not. My recollection is that I kicked down the garden gate to discover that the back door to the house was open, with smoke pouring out.


I decided that this indicated that the occupants must have escaped, so there was no need for me to enter the house. Which indeed was the case - but nice of them not to bother to hang around outside and not to bother to tell the gathering crowd that there was nobody left inside the house who needed rescuing, eh?


(The guy was a blind smoker who'd dropped his cigarette. As far as I know his reward was that the council gave him a new council house, he having burnt down the old one.)

[Paul Cantrell]

RatherBeFlying: The Emergency Medical Aid text I worked through some decades ago advised immediately removing the gas cap from any damaged vehicle.

It's pressure that will lead to an explosion. These days you'd have to find and work the gas cap release by the driver's seat, then jam something in to keep the filler inlet open

Interesting that you said that. I would have guessed the opposite - that leaving the gas cap closed to prevent egress of fumes would be better, but I had an experience many years ago that probably supports your training:

Back in the 1970s (must have been 1979) during a gasoline shortage I passed a car at the side of the highway with a weird flickering light. I pulled over and realized it was flames inside the car. I ran back to try to give assistance, but by the time I tried to open the door the interior was fully engulfed and I couldn't tell whether there was someone in the front seat or not. This went from a small fire to flames shooting out of the windows in less than 60 seconds. Another guy ran up to lend assistance and we decided that if there was someone inside we were too late. He said: "maybe we should get away in case the car blows up". I said "that's just Hollywood, they don't really do that".

We started walking slowly away and that's when the car blew up :eek:

Gertrude the Wombat: Which indeed was the case - but nice of them not to bother to hang around outside and not to bother to tell the gathering crowd that there was nobody left inside the house who needed rescuing, eh?

So, funny you should mention that. After the car blew up we saw someone sitting on the nearby embankment, maybe 100 feet away from the fire. Turns out it was the driver. He just sat there while we were trying to rescue anyone inside! He said he was carrying extra gas cans in the back seat because of the shortage of gasoline, and then tossed a cigarette out the driver's window and that it blew back into the back seat and caused the fire. Not sure to this day whether I really believe him (maybe he torched the car for the insurance? dunno.). Still, nice of him to let us risk our lives trying to rescue him while he sat a safe distance away!!!