Two men walked away from a harrowing plane crash in Missouri unscathed after the pilot’s quick thinking gave them time to deploy the parachute and cushion their landing in a tree line Tuesday evening.
Their small aircraft slammed into a group of trees near Wilson Avenue and Wild Horse Creek Road in Chesterfield around 6 p.m. local time, local outlet KSDK reported.
The two men on board walked away in what Chesterfield Councilwoman Merrell Hansen called a bona fide “miracle,” the station reported.
“They got up and walked away, so today was a miracle,” she said.
The plane was heading back to the Spirit of St. Louis Airport when it suddenly started to go down as it flew at roughly 1,300 feet, First Alert 4 reported.
The pilot managed to deploy a parachute so they could better guide the plane into a tree line, which cushioned an otherwise harsh landing, Monarch Fire Protection District Fire Marshal Jim McKay told KSDK.
“They were making their final approach. He said it banked left, banked right, and then they started to go down, so they deployed the parachute,” McKay told FOX 2.
“They should go to church Sunday. They are counting their blessings,” he added.
Local outlets on the scene captured chilling footage of the wrecked plane hanging from the treetops and the parachute credited with saving the men’s lives tangled in the branches.
McKay admitted that he was “surprised” the plane was even equipped with a parachute, First Alert 4 reported.
A woman who knew the pilot and passenger rushed to embrace them, a KSDK reporter on the scene said.
McKay told KSDK that the pilot suspected a “mechanical failure” caused the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the crash.
A working parachute can make all the difference between life and death when things go wrong in a small aircraft.
In March 2024, a couple and their 2-year-old daughter sustained only minor cuts and scratches after their plane’s engine lost power mid-flight and spiraled to the ground in California. The parachute deployed and carried the aircraft until it crashed into trees in a heavily wooded area.
Another plane carrying six passengers, including a 3-year-old and a newborn, suffered an engine failure and started to plummet in Brazil in 2023. The pilot activated the aircraft’s parachute system and the plane safely floated to the ground.
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