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Faith

‘Kind of Scary, Kind of Exciting’: Man Records Plane Crash From the Passenger Seat

Feb. 16, 2013 8:51pm Erica Ritz

Jonathan Fieldings YouTube Video Shows Utah Plane Crash From Inside the Plane

(Photo: YouTube)

A video claiming to document a plane crash from inside a plane has roughly half a million views since being posted on YouTube a little over a week ago. And it’s no surprise — though the experience must have been terrifying, the man expresses a calm confidence that they’d all survive, even with the horror of knowing his 7-month-old baby was aboard.

“I know we’re going to be just fine, but this is kind of scary and kind of exciting at the same time,” he says, recording the snowy Utah ground that awaited them.

Jonathan Fielding explained in the video’s description:

I was up for a birthday flight with my wife (her first flight ever), her mother and my seven month old boy when we received the shocking news that our carburator had iced over. After gliding over some field we found an ideal place to land the plane. The pilot was experienced in field landings but unfortunately the snow caused the landing gear to sever from the plane, flipping the plane front to back and smashing the tail before it came to a rest upside down. No one was hurt in the accident save for bruises, whiplash and minor cuts.

[...]

When we first heard the news from the pilot that we were going to have to land out there my initial reaction was shock and fear. There was an incredible feeling of calm and peace with swept over all of us as we all said our own silent prayers in our heart. It was in that moment as I tried to recall any sort of ill or uneasy feeling before the flight, any kind of ‘warning’ feelings that I get sometimes to warn me away from when something really bad was going to happen, you know that ‘inner feeling’. After I realized that I never once got a bad feeling of warning I knew in that moment that we were going to be ok. I knew that God was watching over us and protecting my family. We belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and we’ve been taught to listen to those feelings because they are sent from God. [Emphasis added]

According to local reports, the plane was unable to land on the nearby road because of the possibility they’d hit oncoming traffic or power lines.

The only bad news in the story, Fielding says, is that the pilot took the group up for free as a birthday gift despite the fact that his insurance had expired the night before. He’s now out $40,000.

At the end of the video, Fielding asks his wife whether she’ll ever fly again. As though the answer is obvious, she smiles and readily replies: “Yeah.”

Here’s the entire video (skip to around 1:25 for the actual crash):

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Comments (65)

Mamafielding
Posted on February 17, 2013 at 2:05pm
While many media outlets have covered this story, the blaze is the one place I wanted to see it end up. Being one of the survivors from this crash I can tell you that in our situation, where we landed was the best choice. Now all you know it alls can tell me till your blue in the face, that we should have landed on a road. While that would have been ideal, our pilot did what he thought best for all involved. But thanks again for your input on how he should have reacted in a tense situation. For those who commented on carb heat: There was carb heat and it was used. Until you are put in our situation please refrain from criticizing. We are blessed to have walked away, and continue to be grateful for the presence of God and angels for protecting us that day.

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- nappy
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 4:14pm
  Glad you made it kiddo! Good job holding it all together!
  
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- Marci
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 12:38am
  So happy you are all okay. And I have NO doubt the pilot did what was best. He had only a certain amount of time to work with and made the best decision he could in that time. Looks like it was the right decision. And on a road? I am certain the friction would have caused much more damage to the plane and ultimately, you, the passengers. I am so happy you are okay!!
  
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- bethy85
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:35am
  Your family really kept calm and that’s amazing! From a Pentecostal to a Morman, I’m so glad God was really watching out for you all :)
  
  Report this comment
- Dishevel
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:31am
  The road of course works real well.
  If there are few cars on that road and If the cooperate and If they see you.
  Landing on a highway that is in use can end up very bad, very fast.
  I am sure that the pilot looked over at the highway and decided against using it.
  
  Report this comment
U-R-Busted
Posted on February 17, 2013 at 2:04pm
I use to be a light aircraft pilot and I do not understand why this pilot opted for rugged terrain when there was clearly a large roadway he could have used. Most likely he would have been able to land with no damage the aircraft and no real risk to himself and his passengers?

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- mbck1491
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 7:20pm
  I think this guy made a good decision. If he tried to land on the road the outcome could have been far worse, hung up in power lines, killed someone on the ground, or could have hurt or killed himself or the passengers, or at the least caused personal property damage. An airplane is expendable people are not. Good job piloting that airplane. Learn from your mistake, but better yet try to learn from other pilot’s mistakes.
  
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RinkyDink34
Posted on February 17, 2013 at 11:40am
Oops= I hope the someone sends the pilot $40k for a new plane

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- thetruthseeker711
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 5:51pm
  $40k? don’t know much about planes, do you?
  
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raptor45
Posted on February 17, 2013 at 11:40am
I’m interested in knowing how quickly they were rescued and how their child fared through all of that cold. It looked to me that they may not have had blankets, etc.

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classicaliberal
Posted on February 17, 2013 at 10:43am
another one saved by magic underwear. If only the Fancher Party had been wearing them…

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- RinkyDink34
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 12:15pm
  Not to Worry, Jesus Loves You
  
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SnakeEyes
Posted on February 17, 2013 at 10:27am
he took the 40K number out of the article.

And this article was only posted to advertise for mormonism

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- garbagecanlogic
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 12:36pm
  snake: give it a break and grow up!
  
  Praise Be To Obama. Psalm 109:8
  
  The U.N. Out Of The U.S.
  The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
  
  Report this comment
LakeHartwellSailor
Posted on February 17, 2013 at 10:01am
Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.

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CorePatriot
Posted on February 17, 2013 at 9:47am
I like the wife who’s thinking, Johnathan…turn the freakin camera off.

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tajloc
Posted on February 17, 2013 at 8:49am
No donations… This is a good learning situation. He will plan for failure and KNOW where the good roads are. Flying with one engine over the rockpile is an error.

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battles
Posted on February 17, 2013 at 8:24am
I was noticing in the video that there were several roads around that they could have landed on. There is much more of a chance to live trying to land on a paved or gravel road than in snow. Most pilots will go for a road upon engine failure if there isn’t a reachable airport nearby. When flying, I am always keeping track of places to land in case of an emergence. This landing was definitely not a good idea or good emergence landing.

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- TRAXX822
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 8:42am
  It is the responsibility of the pilot to find a safe place to land in the event of an emergency. That means away from population. He probably couldn’t land on the roads due to cars, too narrow, light poles, power lines or any combination thereof. He clearly attempted a soft field landing on what he hoped was hard packed snow. He walked away so in my opinion he landed good. Any landing that doesn’t cause harm to people is a good landing. A great landing is one that doesn’t cause harm to people or aircraft. What he didn’t do well was fly without insurance. Which means he’s not out only $40k. He probably lost his license.
  
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- battles
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 9:27am
  Well, I have to disagree. Many emergency landings are successfully done on highways and roads and are considered to be valid emergency landing strips. A dirt road makes a very good emergency landing strip. When landing, it is easy to see wires over the road just ahead of you and avoid them. The roads in the picture were all seemingly rural roads, there would not be that much traffic, and would be away from population, especially on dirt roads. The plane is a very small tail dragger that would not consume that much width and could have stopped rather quickly. Landing in show or standing water can flip a plane easily due to the front heavy engine position. Trying to land on an interstate might be a definite problem, but back roads and highways, especially near WELLSVILLE, UT where the crash took place, are not going to be that populated.
- CNCFan
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 10:24am
  Well Battles, did you even read what was written why he did not pick a road? Also your opinion is BS since you can’t tell the difference between a tail dragger and a plane with tricycle landing gear.
  
  Report this comment
- battles
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 11:40am
  There are many spiteful, hateful people replying in this group as the reply from CNCFAN above. He obviously is perfect in every way. Just because I mistaken the plane for a tail dragger does not mean that my “opinion is BS”. I own and fly a twin engine Beechcraft Baron, so you will have to excuse my ignorance.
  
  Report this comment
- thetruthseeker711
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 6:12pm
  1) should have had the carb heat on during the entire flight or monitored more closely
  2) soft filed landing was not good – Airspeed too high, attitude should have been much more positive and didn’t hear a stall warning – didn’t turn off the engine or open the doors….horrible ditch!
  3) no pilot briefing on the ditch, either
  4) much safer to land in an open field than make a bad decision to shoot for a road unless it is completely obvious there are no potential obstructions, which would have killed them all
  5) he will not loose his license for a ditch – I’ve had two of them due to engine failures and flipped both times – was pretty detailed discussion with the FAA both times, but isn’t even in my file now.
  
  Report this comment
Hoosier
Posted on February 17, 2013 at 7:27am
The papa was awesome in keeping everyone calm and of course the pilot. Just don’t understand why he couldn’t have found a street to land on. Maybe the snowy field was softer.

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- Ishmot2
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 3:09pm
  When you have no engine power you cannot fly around and pick your landing spot. You pick what you think is best then glide on in, if you pick a road and a car is coming at you there is no power to avoid it. Of course I’m just using common sense in what I’m saying, Beings, I’m not a pilot.I heard of a guy that tried to land a plane on the road going to Lake Powell with three scouts on board, didn’t work out to good, he hit the power lines,and he had power.
  
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Warphead
Posted on February 17, 2013 at 1:01am
I have been in a couple of close calls. It was weird. It was like time suddenly slowed to a near stop. A calm came over me and it was like the split second decisions and actions required to survive came so slowly, like I had plenty of time to do this, then do that, here comes a tree move a little to the left and it will pass, grab that tree and you will stop. Each time, I cannot understand it, it was like I had no doubt that I would survive. Like dying never entered my mind. Only after, did the realization sink in. One example of this was one sunny day I was riding a motorcycle down a very steep hill. A dog ran out in front of me and crossed up the handlebars when my front wheel hit him. Just before impact time seemed to nearly stop. It was like I was a spectator for a moment viewing the events from, not above, but from some other vantage point. I also could see the the path I would take like I was seeing into the future for several seconds. When I impacted the ground I did just like I had just seen myself do. I shifted and positioned my body to slide feet first. My helmet came off but it was OK because it had already absorbed the impact. Then as I was sliding down the road I kept thinking, wow, I wish this would hurry up & stop. Then I thought, I’m starting to feel warm on this side, I better turn some so I won’t wear off so much skin from one side. When I finally stopped (over 200 ft later) I had only blisters on the tips of my fingers from trying to slow down.

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- KevINtampa
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 1:42am
  Ditto.
  
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- SwoonCraft
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 5:03am
  DITTO for me as well. I have never had that feeling at any other time in my life. Can one of the psychologist readers of this site explain this sensation of serenity, peace and calm and the lack of feeling serenity, peace and calm in other near death crashes? How does the body/mind know this? Is it because the engine out in a plane takes longer and the body has time to prepare and with a car/motorcycle crash it’s more abrupt and unexpected?
  
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- LDSmommy
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 6:38am
  When my mom was pregnant with me, she ‘drowned’ at our beach house. She said she was frantic and thrashing, trying to find her way out of the water (she was knocked back by a wave). All of a sudden, she felt total calm and pure happiness. She was yanked out by a lifeguard and revived, had to stay in the hospital for a few days. God at work.
  
  Report this comment
- raptor45
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 11:34am
  I had a similar experience after hitting black ice on a river bridge. My truck slid sideways and as it came to the end of the bridge I was able to correct it and straighten out but despite that the truck and I plunged down a steep embankment, flipped upside down and slid all the way to the bottom of the ravine.
  
  A tree limb came through the passenger side and certainly would have killed a passenger if I had had one with me. During the entire event I was completely calm and it seemed as if time had slowed and perhaps best of all, I felt that some one else was in actual control of the crash. I ended up about 50′ down the embankment, calmly turned off my engine, unbuckled my seat belt, fell into the roof of the truck and then crawled out a back window without a scratch.
  
  I am so looking forward to one day thanking whoever was in control of that vehicle. It certainly wasn’t me.
  
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- planeboy
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 5:56pm
  Raptor..”I am so looking forward to one day thanking whoever was in control of that vehicle. It certainly wasn’t me”…you are a wise man..the saying “I am second” comes to mind because..after all He is first in all things…
  
  Report this comment
jman-6
Posted on February 17, 2013 at 12:01am
While it’s great it all ended well and with the humor the pilot quips it reminded me of an old joke: An instructor asks his student; “what is the prop used for?” Student looks dumbfounded and says “no”. The instructor smiles as he replies, “it’s to keep the pilot cool cuz when it stops spinning he starts sweating!” It’s a little lame but sometimes incredulity of simplicity is humorous truth! GOD SPEED

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kid_in_kc
Posted on February 16, 2013 at 11:58pm
I’m glad they’re OK…but I’m VERY bothered by the fact that this dude was more interested in making his video than he was in making sure his wife and his BABY were OK. When he pulls the camera out after the crash, you can hear the baby crying…he doesn’t even stop filming long enough to check on the baby?? WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS GUY??!

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- jman-6
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 12:12am
  Kid- what part of KC you from? Kansas or Missery LOL just moved from there was in Shawnee!
  
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- LDSmommy
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 6:34am
  He believe he was taking care of his wife and baby. By continuing what he was doing and acting calm and confident, it made his wife feel safe. Our (‘Mormon’) husband’s hold the priesthood and they often feel strong promptings from our Heavenly Father. While it’s not true in all LDS families, most wives have intense confidence in their husband’s ability to listen to and follow those promptings. Spiritually, that’s their half of the marriage deal…and they’re FAR from being ‘the boss’, we are very evenly matched in our marriages (iow-I WILL kick his **** if he’s outta line, ha). I truly believe that’s why you didn’t hear screaming and “Oh my gosh, we’re all gonna die!” (which would be me, promptings or not) They were confident and felt as safe as they could in that situation. As for the baby, looked like he got them out of the plane first, and I believe she was putting the baby to her breast to calm him down. If the baby wasn’t okay, she (his wife) would have been freaking out. Anyway, just my take on it. Mormons, as a whole, are usually major calm during a crisis. I am a big exception. I FREAK.
  
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- OldSurfRat
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 8:02am
  LDSMommy
  
  Your mother was telling the truth.
  As a young kid I was out surfing in a huge NE storm. I made a bad decision to take a huge wave at the last second and blew it during the drop. I was washed around and did not know up from down. As I fought to get to the surface and was just at the point of being out of breath my hand touched sand (the bottom).
  That was when I felt the water enter my nose and I remember feeling the cold water stop in my throat. I guess my body was blocking it from my lungs in a last ditch effort to survive.
  Once that happened all panic stopped. I was at total peace and became somewhat numb.
  At some point something brought me to the surface just enough for my mouth to come out between the chops in the water. All the water came out and enough air came in to revive me and give me the strength to fight again.
  I have never been afraid of drowning since. Very Peaceful way to go.
  
  BTW That is when I started to really believe in God and guardian angels because I had given up and the chances of me popping back up to the surface was zero.
  
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- chips1
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 11:28am
  That sound like waterboarding. It’s illegal. Obama hates surfers.
  
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- Dishevel
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:43am
  Hey Kid.
  If the baby was silent I would be worried.
  When you have a child you will understand.
  That was a cry from a baby that was currently not happy.
  A silent baby in that situation or one of those crys that as a parent you hope you do not hear would have alerted him to danger.
  Notice how the mother was just calmly holding the baby. No one was worried at that point because there was nothing to worry about.
  
  Report this comment
The-Monk
Posted on February 16, 2013 at 11:17pm
“Maintain thy airspeed least the ground arise and smite thee.”

So says Silas; The Sagacious Sage from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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- jman-6
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 11:49pm
  LOL! Shouldn’t that read “lest the ground rise up and smite thee” Great quip Monk!
  
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- BOGOTSTOGO
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 12:06am
  May we all gain wisdom from this video regarding the power of an optimistic attitude and staying calm in the face of a scary situation. I pray their peaceful demeanor will affect everyone who watches this video across America. Also my congrats to the pilot on an excellent emergency landing.
  
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- The-Monk
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 5:15am
  Hi Jman-6,
  
  So true, so true. Thanks for the heads up on that.
  
  A thank you is the least I can. Let me know if you ever need any computer help.
  
  Report this comment
Comcast3
Posted on February 16, 2013 at 9:52pm
Watched this on the local news. A rash of fatal, small plane crashes here in Utah, lately. Good to finally hear a positive outcome, and recorded on video!

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RJJinGadsden
Posted on February 16, 2013 at 9:49pm
Hardly any different than taking a cab in NYC, only you can understand this guy.

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Armyof One
Posted on February 16, 2013 at 9:47pm
I’m seeing a lot of roads, streets, and a major highway. Granted, most may have a powerline alongside, but there is usually plenty of road width so the wing would not clip it.

Yet, he went for a snowy field anyway?

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apollo18
Posted on February 16, 2013 at 9:43pm
Cessna’s don’t have carb heat?

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- Michelle_Baboonbutt
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 10:03pm
  You’re an idiot. FAA REQUIRES carb heat.
  
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- gfg0010
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 10:21pm
  And you’re an *******. How about a little civility?
  
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- afishfarted
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 11:00pm
  Apparently, that’s Michelle Obama hurling insults. Can’t understand simple sarcasm.
  
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- ScottG-CO
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 11:00pm
  That Cessna has fuel injection and, therefore, no carb, much less heat for one.
  
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- 1HonestInjun
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 6:42am
  Cessna 150 and 172 (skyhawk) have carb heat. Fuel injected higher performance Cessna planes like the 182 don’t have carb heat, the engine is the IO 360 engine. I had the Lycoming 360 both in my Cardinal and my Schweizer 300 helicopter.
  Side note, from the aerial pictures shown he was in a rural area. There certainly looked like a lot of highway to land that plane on where he wouldn’t have flipped it.
  
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- afishfarted
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 9:25am
  @1HonestInjun
  Yeah, I saw that too. I mean I know there’s the telephone wire issue and all, but dang–he had to know that snow of any depth is gonna cause problems like this
  
  Report this comment
- Jeff Bassett
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 1:18pm
  The first thing I thought as well was with that much glide time pull the carb heat and see if you could try a restart once more before touching down. BUT… Cessnas do not produce that much heat and in the winter air at higher altitude, the engine may have never had enough heat to have an effect had he pulled it early on. The POH does not recommend flight for many of those models with temps below 10 to 20 degrees.
  
  Definitely would have taken a chance on the highway versus the snowy fields though. Especially with a baby on board, Against the winter white, should have been easier to see obstructions near the road and avoid them as well the traffic in that area could not be that heavy to be an issue. There were many road ways going off that also should have been considered. My CFI threw inflight emergencies at me whenever I was feeling comfortable in training. Paid off as I did get to experience an issue in flight with friends on board. I became very focused calling in a emergency and noting the number of souls on board. But that can be quite a distraction if you just are not prepared mentally for such, which you should be at all times.
  
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13th Imam
Posted on February 16, 2013 at 9:28pm
There was a warm feeling of Barack Hussein Obama running down my leg.

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SilentReader
Posted on February 16, 2013 at 9:27pm
Wow! Amazing. I’m sure they’ll relive it later.

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Captain Morgan
Posted on February 16, 2013 at 9:14pm
Flight aware report on the flight. As for the bent metal, that is what insurance is for, thank god nobody was hurt, nice job.

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=153006

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- LeadNotFollow
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 9:23pm
  His insurance had expired the night before the crash.
  
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- Captain Morgan
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 9:27pm
  Whoops never mind.
  
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Shoot2Stop
Posted on February 16, 2013 at 9:13pm
I’ve experienced a couple of those.

Anything you can walk away from is a good landing – Any landing after which you can reuse the aircraft is a GREAT landing. :-)

.

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Stoic one
Posted on February 16, 2013 at 9:10pm
Shock is an interesting condition…

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LeadNotFollow
Posted on February 16, 2013 at 9:06pm
This pilot was so calm and professional. He got them all back onto the ground alive.
God bless him.

Hopefully, there will be a donation site set up, to raise forty thousand dollars to buy him a new plane.

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- PoliticallyRightUs.Com
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 9:35pm
  40,000? that’s a down payment…
  
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- LeadNotFollow
  Posted on February 17, 2013 at 1:55am
  Then he must have purchased the plane used, because the story reads “His insurance had expired the night before. He’s now out $40,000.”
  
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