True stories of emergency landings that still amaze pilots

Sky-high experiences

True stories of emergency landings that still amaze pilots

Most of us hope we never hear the words "brace for landing." Yet aviation history is full of moments when something went extremely wrong and calm thinking made all the difference. From quiet farm fields to busy highways and even abandoned drag strips, these emergency landings show how skill, luck, and nerve can turn a frightening situation into a story people tell for decades.

A river becomes a runway

Image: Photo by Chris Gardner, USACE New York District Public Affairs, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 lifted off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport and almost immediately struck a flock of geese. Both engines quit, leaving Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger with seconds to decide what to do. With no runway within reach, he guided the Airbus A320 down onto the Hudson River between Manhattan and New Jersey. The jet stayed afloat long enough for ferries and rescue boats to arrive, and all 155 people aboard survived. Many New Yorkers watching from the shoreline thought they were seeing a movie being filmed, until they realized it was real!

Lost in the Amazon

Image: John McArthur

Varig Flight 254 left Marabá in 1989 bound for Belém, but flew west instead of north due to a misread heading. Fuel ran out over the rainforest after dark. Captain César Garcez glided the Boeing 737 into the treetops, wings tearing off as it stopped. Thirteen died, but 41 survived. The landing was skillful, even if the mistake was tragic.

Two airplanes become one

Image: See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Over Australia in 1940, two Avro Anson trainers bumped into each other and locked together, one riding on top of the other. The lower pilot parachuted out, but the upper pilot, Leonard Fuller, discovered he could still fly the tangled pair! He eased them into a farm field. One airplane was scrapped. The other flew for years afterward, how crazy is that?

Both engines gone over England

Image: National Transportation Safety Board, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1993, pilot Edward Wyer was flying a Piper Navajo from Birmingham to Norwich with seven passengers aboard. One engine tore loose in midair, and its propeller wrecked the other. With no power and barely controllable flight, Wyer aimed for a field near power lines and slid the airplane in on its belly. Believe it or not, everyone walked away! Sore necks, for sure, but they made it.

Holding a wing on with gravity

Image: Edoardo Bortoli

During aerobatic practice in 1970, British pilot Neil Williams felt his Zlin’s wing structure fail. One wing folded like a bad lawn chair. He could have lost it completely. Instead, thinking fast, he flipped the plane upside down so negative forces would keep the wing in place. He flew back inverted to Royal Air Force Hullavington and rolled upright at the last second. The wing finally gave up just after touchdown.

The day a jet became a glider

Image: Michael

Air Canada Flight 143 ran out of fuel in 1983 due to a metric mix-up. At cruising altitude, both engines quit. Captain Bob Pearson, a glider pilot, aimed the Boeing 767 toward Gimli in Manitoba, unaware that the runway was partly a drag strip. With minimal instruments and no engines, they landed hard but safely. Most passengers were more shaken than hurt.

Steering with nothing but throttle

Image: Arpingstone, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In 2003, a DHL Airbus A300 was hit by a missile shortly after takeoff from Baghdad. All hydraulic systems failed, leaving no control surfaces. Remembering a training talk, Captain Eric Gennotte used engine thrust alone to steer and descend. The crew landed hard and slid off the runway. Everyone lived, then discovered they had stopped near a minefield. Talk about dodging bullets!

A jet rolls into a gas station

Image: No machine-readable author provided. Hannibal assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1975, aerobatic pilot Corkey Fornof lost oil pressure in his tiny BD-5J microjet over North Carolina. He shut down the engine, dropped through clouds, and spotted Interstate 95. He landed among cars, rolled off an exit, and coasted right up to a Sunoco pump. The gas station attendant needed a moment to believe his eyes.

Flying from the wing in World War I

Image: U.S. Navy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Canadian pilot Alan McLeod was just 18 when his bomber caught fire during combat in 1918. Wounded and with flames licking the cockpit, he climbed onto the wing to keep the fire away from his injured gunner. Somehow, he guided the plane into a survivable crash near friendly lines. Both men lived, and McLeod earned the Victoria Cross, naturally!

Flying wounded, mission first

Image: Royal Air Force official photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Royal Air Force pilot Bill Reid was badly wounded over Europe in 1943, his Lancaster bomber damaged and crew members injured or killed. Despite blood loss and freezing air blasting through a shattered windscreen, he pressed on to bomb Düsseldorf, then navigated home by the stars. He crash-landed in England and survived. For that night, he earned the Victoria Cross.