THIS is the terrifying moment a plane crashes into the sea after the engine cut out just minutes into the flight.
Rescuers dramatically pulled pilot Mark Finkelstein from the submerged cabin in the Atlantic water near Oak Island Pier, North Carolina.
The plane smashes into the water’s surface with huge splash in front of gasping beach-goers[/caption]
Mark Finkelstein, the pilot, had to be pulled from the cabin legs-first[/caption]
Footage shows the single-engine aircraft skidding down onto the water after the motor packed it in.
Mark, a pilot of 17 years, was forced to attempt an emergency landing as the propeller fell still.
But as the bottom of the plane catches the wave, the plane somersaults forwards.
It flops onto the surface, upside down, creating a huge splash.
Gasps can be heard from beach-goers – with some throwing their hands over their mouths and one crying: “Oh my God!”
Another clip shows heroic members of Oak Island Water Rescue dragging Mark by his legs from the cabin.
Mark’s head is underwater as he is extracted backwards from the plane, but he bobs up to take a huge breath of air as soon as he’s clear.
Two rescuers in the water then help him onto a waiting Jet Ski to be whizzed to safety.
His plane is left bobbing with the wings on the surface and the nose pointing downwards.
Mark had only been in the air for 13 minutes when “the engine just stopped”, he told WECT 6.
He said: “The propeller just stopped and at that point it was very clear that I was going to be making a landing in the water.”
With zero power, Mark had no chance of making it back to Cape Fear Regional Jetport, where he’d taken off from.
Oak Island Fire Department said “The plane came to rest mostly submerged in an upright position.
“Surviving on a small pocket of air in the back of the aircraft’s cabin, Finkelstein was guided by rescuers feet-first, under the water and out through the windshield.”
Mark had been a pilot for 17 years and said his training kicked in when the engine cut out[/caption]
The plane flipped over and slapped down onto the surface[/caption]
Oak Islands Rescuers helped Mark onto an emergency Jet Ski[/caption]
It was less than 30 seconds after crashing that Mark was pulled out of the plane, according to the Fire Department.
Miraculously, Mark’s only injury was a cut on his leg which needed stitches at hospital.
Mark reflected: “I was so fortunate that the impact didn’t injure me and doubly fortunate that the Oak Island Water Rescue got to me so quickly. That was huge. That was the key to the whole thing.”
And revealing what was going through his head as the plane stormed towards the sea, Mark said: “I wasn’t focused on what I was going to do as a result of the crash, I was focused on the training and what I felt I needed to do.
“You know, get the door open before I landed, that sort of thing. I just focused on what I needed to do and wasn’t thinking further ahead than that.”
Mark said he was fortunate to have avoided more severe injury[/caption]
The pilot was only wanting to take a 20-minute recreational flight[/caption]
