US pilot pulled from crashed plane moments before train smashes into it
- The man escaped death twice in a span of minutes after his Cessna 172 landed on railway tracks in Los Angeles after an engine failure
- Officers managed to disentangle the bloodied pilot just seconds before a commuter train, horn blaring, barrelled through the wreckage
The pilot of a small plane averted death twice in a span of minutes on Sunday, first when he crash-landed onto railroad tracks, then when Los Angeles police rescued him just before a commuter train smashed into the aircraft.
Bodycam video showed the officers working furiously to disentangle the bloodied pilot from the cockpit of the crumpled Cessna 172.
“Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!” someone yelled as the officers dragged the man away seconds before the Metrolink train, its horn blaring, barrelled through the plane.
The single-engine plane had engine failure during take-off from Whiteman Airport in the San Fernando Valley community of Pacoima and went down moments later, police Captain Christopher Zine told reporters.
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Pilot of crashed plane narrowly survives death twice in a day
The plane ended up on a rail crossing in an intersection near the airport and just blocks from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Division station. Officers arrived at the crash scene almost immediately.
“I had requested Metrolink to cease all train activity, but apparently that didn’t happen,” Sergeant Joseph Cavestany told CBSN Los Angeles.
Officer Christopher Aboyte told KABC-TV that he initially stood by the plane trying to keep the pilot, who was seated, conscious and alert.
Then, bells and flashing lights signalled an oncoming train, Officer Robert Sherock told the station.
Lucky escape: no one hurt after plane nearly ripped in two in mid-air crash
“We looked and sure enough there was a train headed right for us at full speed,” he said.
Officer Damien Castro told KNBC-TV that training and experience kicked in, and adrenaline helped.
“When things like that happen you kind of just go and do it,” Castro said. “You don’t really have much time to think.”
The bodycam captured the sight and sound of the train blasting through where the pilot had been seconds earlier.
“I think this guy needs to buy a lottery ticket ’cause he pretty much cheated death twice within 10 minutes,” Sherock told KNBC.
The pilot was the only person on board and was taken to a hospital for treatment, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. He was not identified and no other injuries were reported.
Metrolink service was halted and road traffic was detoured in the area about 20 miles (32km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.
