My instructor in the early 80's said if you are night VFR doing an emergency landing, when you get get close to the ground turn your landing lights on, and if you don't like what you see, just turn them off.

“You’re practicing for the bad days, not the good days.” 💯

Even during the emergency he never dropped the “uhhhhhhhhhh”. Incredible.

CYOO is my home airport - and the plane came down 2 blocks from my house. To be completely fair to the pilot of GFDH: he was in a rented 150 from a flight school. Possibly a low time pilot who is still in the learning phase, not too many hours under his belt and who has probably just spent 40-60 hours flying with an instructor who wants EVERYTHING verbalised. This pilot was doing just that, saying everything outloud as he was working the problem. He did a great job of immediately calling Mayday and declaring the emergency... The pilot on the radio at 2:11 however needs a reality check - there's an aircraft who declared an emergency, that means keep silent on frequency while the emergency is dealt with, or ATC calls out to you.

I agree with the procedure stated but also have to pat the woman from ATC on the back by keeping the pilot as calm as she could as she continued to focus the pilot on his chore of “landing wherever he could.” She continued to bring his attention back to that chore and nothing else. Good job.

I got my PPL at that airport (CYOO). Anything south of it is all dense urban buildup; the entire way back to their destination. Every street is criss-crossing with tall power lines. My mind is blown they didn't get tangled up. I'm glad to see the pilot walk away and without hurting anyone on the ground.

Aviate, Navigate, Communicate - always in that order!

The biggest take away is check your oil before you take off…the engine seized due to lack of oil. And no, there was no line ruptured….

Loosing an engine far away frrom city in the darkness is the worst possible scenario that can happen. This guy was damn lucky it happened above the city to give him at least some chance of survival.

You mentioned Microsoft flight simulator and I had to laugh. I once was flying a TBM 930 on autopilot at FL300. I happen to leave the Sim and sat on the couch with my wife and fall asleep for about 3 1/2 hours. I woke up and realized the Sim was still running so I went to go back in about the time I sat down,thecaircraft ran out of fuel. Now I could have reset the fuel by instead I decided to try and pick an airport from that height and do a dead stick landing. I did a perfect one at an airport about 10 miles from my location and I received a little award from the game for perfect landing. I didn’t know such an award existed. Incidentally, I overflew my destination airport by 180 miles.

Excellent outcome. Super glad he flew all the way down and didn’t stall. I can vouch for Kerry’s book Ferry Pilot. Awesome and riveting book. I bought it a couple of years ago and couldn’t put that puppy down once I started it. Kerry is alive today, because he thinks outside the box when faced with a problem, keeps his focus and has excellent flying and IFR skills. And he keeps his energy up just like a good NASA shuttle pilot

Some great advice there thank you for posting. He seemed surprised the engine stopped, when flying single engine he should be surprised it kept running, like you said best have a plan, also keep in mind it is better to be on the ground wishing you were flying than flying and wishing you were on the ground. Someone once said on night forced landings turn the landing light on, "Dont like what you see (Rocks & Trees) Turn it off.

Totally agree. I live in an airpark and I constantly watch flatland pilots drag it in from way out with nothing but trees and severe terrain below them and if the engine skips a beat they are in real trouble. I’ve always carried enough energy to make it to the airport without power as I’m coming in to land. Just something I’ve learned and I don’t fly some STOL plane but a Mooney. You can’t always do it, but I certainly do it when possible. Thanks for highlighting this event. It’s really important. I really enjoy your videos. Well done.

you’re the man for your videos!!! need documentary style videos of your flights again

Great Video ! Very glad I watched it . I fly a Cessna 170 and I practice landing in a short distance all the time .

“How did you land that here?” Answer: “Ah, gravity?” In that situation, it’s all you baby! Just fly the airplane.

Great video and advice thankyou Kerry. Loved it.

Wow Thankyou sir.Glad this little video came up on my YT feed & then watched the whole thing including your awsome commentary.I’ll remember your advise for when I’m in my home based cockpit with MSFS ,Thankyou.

My worst flying nightmare. I’d be crapping Tiffany cut diamonds.

Great outcome. In single engine ops we should always be ready for this and aware of my options. One day an instructor pulled the power over tiger country, saying don't fly over this stuff if there's a safer alternative.

Not only is the narrator correct in the fact that air traffic control can't physically fly the plane for you, because your in the cockpit and they are in a tower, but they can't leagly tell you what to do. The second they do, they are legally responsible. Best thing they could say is dont panic, fall back on your training, look for a straight street your the pilot in command your engine is out, god dealt you a bad hand of cards, deal with it, land the plane good luck.

I drive a logging truck in northern British Columbia. Lots of ice and snow. I learned that to panic in a situation makes it worse. To panic later is a waste of time. Drive/fly until everything stops.

I’m glad he was able to get it down safely.

Well done both of them God Bless You and Your Family's

I would never flight night on a single unless a twin although I used to and night flying is so beautiful. I never really left the circuit and in hindsight it was a good decision

Hey Kerry thx for the content

Wow! You must be a skydiver too!! Coolest guy on the internet! Amazing!

Thanks Kerry

Any landing that you walk away from is a good landing. very high stress situation. Good job to the pilot.

Great video and commentary. Received you book “Ferry Pilot” last Saturday and I’m almost 80% through the book on Monday. I hope to finish it and order your next book soon.

Ty kerry

One lucky pilot!

This is why I recommended when you practice off airport forced landings that you have a general brief but inclusive transmission to ATC. Practice giving position, altitude and intentions on the radio along with the other things like turning on ELT, squawking 7700. In the event of a crash with serious injury, you want all to know your general location so all resources can be sent as soon as possible. This guy sounded rattled for sure, but he gave position altitude and "the zone" of where he was and his intention, even if it sounded more like a hysterical cry for help. I don't think he was frozen when he was talking but he was thinking and looking and pitching for best glide. Many pilots, especially instructors, have a habit of verbalizing everything as they do it. I think it's important to give position especially if you are unfamiliar with the area, you could be directly of a suitable area and not know it's there, atc can help you. As long as this guy was doing and thinking like he was supposed to, I can give him a break if his comms weren't great. He did get it down and walk away, he got it done. It might sound like ATC got him out of a panic, but I think he just got tongue tied because he had not practiced what he needed to say in that moment. It was as if he was verbally telling himself what to do as he did it. Having a nice little emergency call rehearsed and ready to go, frees up a little processing brain power to work on the situation.

I love flying the little two place Grummans. 8' of wing on each side. Loose the engine on down wind of abeam the numbers you will not make the runway at all. Unlike a cessna and most others you can not glide very far at all. That you can do is set the aircraft up with full flaps, rudder all the way to the floor smoothly and slow to 65 MPH. Aircraft will come down at 2,500 +fpm and the flair will stall the aircraft and get you down in a very small area. One way trip,but down!! In the NE we are taught to land on the roofs of factories, no where else to go.

Change your underware after you get to the scene of the accident, not before. The man did well. Never give up.

No one’s coming to save you, you have the rest of your life to figure it out.

when one of your approach visual cues is "passing over the Nuclear power station" that already feels like a problem to me...

Yes! "Aviate, Navigate, Communicate".

My CFI said at night here in Iowa you have two options: crash near the lights where people can help you or crash in a dark field where there won't be any powerlines but you can't see the ground. What do you think Kerry?

Well, ATC can inform pilots who are unfamiliar with the area about possible landing spots, in particular in an urban area. So it does make sense to make a mayday call.

Had to do my night rating on my way to my commercial so this was circa 1982. No incidents, 6 hours mostly circuit work, and a single land away cross country. Since then, I was one of the guys who never ever flew single engine at night, nor taught night ratings as an instructor. "If the engine fails, do your drills, declare a mayday, at one hundred feet turn on the landing light. If you like what you see land, if you don't like what you see, turn off the landing light." Not my kind of flying at all.

Agree with every point!

I would have made one mayday call, (maybe) I would have flown the plane, A#1 heck talking to anybody!

Best Glide for engine out now and pick a area to land to walk away from

"Remain calm & work the problem" Interesting thought about turning off the radio to reduce mental workload. Thanks!

You tell it’s Canada by the snow and the people in shorts.

Clutteritis. The affliction to place obstacles everywhere.

While training for my private pilot's license, my instructor took me up for an hour of dual at night. We practiced climbs, descents, turns, and emergency procedures, and while I was distracted bye something that I can't remember, my instructor pulled the throttle back and said, "You just lost your engine". So I set mixture to idle cutoff, closed throttle, fuel valve to off, ignition to off, set transponder to 7700+ident, simulated mayday call, trimmed airplane to a 65 mph descent with full flaps, unlatched both doors, and turned on landing light. I asked my instructor what I should do if after turning on my landing light I see a big row of trees in front of me? His reply was... "Turn it off".

"Land where ever you can - safely." "Can I land unsafely if needed?" What was the deal with safely?

A great way to learn dead stick landings is to take flying lessons in a sailplane. No engine, no go around. You get it right every time.

Honestly he sounded panicked but he must have had some semblance of control to put that bird down on that road with what looks like no damage to the plane from the photos. I’d rather have someone audibly freaking out and put the plane down safely than someone who sounds calm but goes into the black or has no confidence when it comes to flying the plane.

Really impressive.

Agreed, great job not stalling and finding a spot.

The power off 180 should be a bigger part of the private certificate. You shouldn’t need a commercial certificate before you are expected to preform it.

A famous flight school once told me... turn your landing lights on, when you get close to the ground and you don't like what you see, turn your landing lights out....

Yes it's a nightmare for this to happen at night but on the other hand there would be a lot more traffic on those roads in the daytime. I have landed at this airport once, it was a proverbial $200 hamburger stop made because a large cloud extending off of lake Ontario covered Toronto Island airport preventing me from reaching my destination. Had lunch at the flying club there and returned to Ottawa.

ATC was saying in their mind "We know, fly the plane."

If you're committed to land you should lease disconnect your fuel, turn off your fuel and maybe obviously you want to keep your landing lights on. We definitely want to see if you can minimize fuel loss when you're hit. Edit an impending fire

Do you use foot pedals with your flight simulator? I was thinking of purchasing Microsoft Flight Simulator for the experience. I am not a pilot. Just for fun. The logitech pedals have mixed reviews.

This was a great pilot. He didn't sound great on the radio. He sounded really green. He sounded really civilian. It didn't sound like he was going to make it? But that was a great landing. He did good. That's pretty cool. And he had to find that at night. Nothing looks the same at night. You can't see anything at night. That was a nicely lit up Road... Perfect for a successful landing. I am not a professional nor career pilot. I am however a retired professional career engineer. Who has flown as a student pilot. And I couldn't agree more. What's ATC going to do for you? When you suddenly have an emergency in the cockpit? You don't need any distractions. You don't need to be holding a microphone or pressing a button for one. You've got enough to worry about now. And it's finding a place to put the plane down. Without putting yourself down in the process. In other words landing instead of crashing. Sometimes you don't want to land on the top of houses. So try to land on the top of trees. You then won't have too far to fall. If you survived? Yeah no. I don't want to land a plane in an emergency. Even though I know I could. I just would not want to be on that flight. And then it's sour grapes. I think I shall remain on the ground throughout my retirement. RemyRAD

Except... there is a slight chance that ATC might know of a small grass, dirt or gravel strip nearby.... other than that, though, there is no point in bothering them.

Great video. I have a question. How/ who gets the plane off the road. Do they take the wings off and haul it off? Just wondering. Thanks man.

Is “left downwind” different in Canada than the US? The track depicts a right downwind, and he’s already on a straight-in approach before being told to establish the left downwind.

I wonder if these small airplanes have a heavy loud horn in cases like this you can get the attention of the people could possibly be affected.🤔

When I was learning, we based out of KADS. I was a couple hours in when my IP asked me just after I rotated and barely started climbing out, "You lose an engine here, what do you do?" I said, "Okay, I drop the nose to keep my energy." "Right! Then what?" "I start a slow shallow tur..." "NO!" he was as unusually emphatic, "You try and turn this low and slow and you'll spin in. You drop the nose and look at what you have out there." But we were coming off runway 15 which heads you over Beltline Rd and downtown Addison. Even in '85 it was built up. I said, "All I've got is high rises." "So aim for the softest one." 😂 He did explain that if I tied in flaps and slowed to just above stall speed, I had a chance of surviving. Nosing in from a spin, not so much.

Good thing streets were empty at night he didn't stall it.

He could have spent that radio time fixing the engine - carb heat on, switch tanks etc.

So many plane make safe landings on road… with all the wires and cars

YOU DA MAN!

I'm not in aviation in any way but you just caused me to have an idea. Can MS or other non professional flight sims be set to generate random failures? It seems to me that those could be extremely valuable even if unrecoverable.

The sooner ATC knows, the sooner emergency services can prepare and be dispatched, it takes two seconds to declare an emergency.

"Just turn the radio off" - Millions of ATC will not like this 😂 But in essence: You're right! Aviate....... Navigate.......... communicate.

Man if it was a honda motor he'd still be going... Now thinking about it why doesn't honda make aircraft motors?

Yeah… That “panicky” pilot did a hell of a job getting aboard safely at night. I think this video could be retitled. The controller did a great job…

"land where you can land safely let me know when you're down" Gee, thanks ATC lady. I never thought of that. I mean, she obviously can't land it for him but she could have suggested highways in particular directions etcetera. Whatever, at least he made it down in one piece

No engine - shouldn't flaps be up to reduce drag and maintain altitude and speed as long as possible until they get close to the ground? Granted it depends on where you plan to land. If landing spot is a bit too close then you can use flaps to your advantage in that case. And I still say in a gyroplane this would not be so desperate an issue. Gyroplane a lot safer. Put that down just about anywhere.

I forget which uploader and video it was, but it was showing a very low and fast approach which had become that pilot's favorite method and I commented: "Every landing should be done in a glider", and the uploader didn't understand it at all. He thought I meant to actually get in an unpowered aircraft and land at that runway at least once, when I really meant get higher and cut power sooner in every landing regardless of the airframe.

It’s a problem with modern culture. Many are conditioned to blame others or defer responsibility. That was evident here with the knee jerk reaction to unrealistically assume ATC can help him AND seemingly get angry about it. Anyway well done in the end no one got hurt. Hopefully he doesn’t have to pay for any damages 😄

He and ATC should have thought To IDENT and then they could have given authorities somewhat close coordinates of a possible crash. If you call an airport and tell them your landing engine out they’ll have “services” on the. Ground waiting. I called once for smoke on the cockpit and I can assure you I was shocked at the reaction on the ground. It wound t be a bad idea to have services at an off airport landing too . But always fly the airplane first

No no, ATC can easily do better and help much much more, could simply remind pilot to run check-list time allowing or say shut off fuel valve and turn off master switch before touchdown, they need a clear head to assist them.

Nice job. I’ve been there. N121YT

single engine night sucks

Didn't she tell him to report left downwind for 30 and he went for a straight in???

At 2:50 it shows the flaps being extended. Nope. No flaps until the landing spot is assured. Otherwise the drag will kill your glide ratio.

WAAAAAAYYYYY TOO MUCH RADIO WORK.... FLY THE AIRPLANE.... if there isn't a good landing spot at all... use full flaps to get the aircraft as slow as possible and keep the airspeed just above stall.... this is also the configuration if you are IFR

I have to disagree. IF you can, Declare MAYDAY, tell them what's going on. You might need emergency services yourself and they can at least get the ball rolling.

Anybody want to take a guess at who his co-pilot was ?

ATC can help, and give emergency advice. You're wrong to say turn off the radio.

So, if you're engine out, at night, nowhere near an airport, don't get on the radio and don't tell anyone. Okay got it. Your advice might sell books but that doesn't make it good advice. I hope you never fly in my airspace.

Glad to see no one was hurt on the ground. It is time to start holding pilots accountable for damage they do to innocent people on the ground. Their emergency should not be a burden on the innocent.

In gliders upon landing off airport I turn the radio off.