A seasoned pilot had to be pulled from the wreckage of his plane after having to make an emergency water landing, which went horribly wrong.
Mark Finkelstein was pulled from his single engine aircraft on August 2 near Oak Island Pier, North Carolina, after having to ditch the plane into the water.
The plane started to suffer engine failure leaving Finkelstein, a pilot of 17 years, unable to circle back to an airport – having to land it in the ocean instead.
Footage shows his plane coming in low and skidding across the top of the surface, before it flips over and lands in the water upside down.
Images taken of the plane after show it mostly submerged in an upright position, with a small pocket of air on the back of the cabin.
Finkelstein had to be guided out by rescuers feet-first under the water and out through the windshield, according to the Oak Island Fire Department.
He had only been in the air for 13 minutes when he recalled that the ‘engine just stopped’ to WECT 6.
‘It was literally going to be about a 20-minute flight just down the length of Oak Island, turn around and come back in,’ he said.
Dramatic footage showed the rescue of a pilot from a plane crash near Oak Island Pier in North Carolina after an emergency water landing on August 2 went horribly wrong
Finkelstein hadn’t been able to make it back to Cape Fear Regional Jetport, and saw the beach near Oak Island Pier was too crowded, so he attempted to land on the water
The pilot, Mark Finkelstein (pictured), was pulled from the plane after it began to experience engine trouble and made an emergency water landing just after 7.30pm
‘At some point, the engine started to lose power so the RPM started to go down. The engine just stopped altogether and the propeller just stopped and at that point it was very clear that I was going to be making a landing in the water,’ he added.
Finkelstein hadn’t been able to make it back to Cape Fear Regional Jetport, and saw the beach near Oak Island Pier was too crowded, so he attempted to land on the water.
The Fire Department said in a release: ‘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.’
It took less than 30 seconds for Finkelstein to be pulled from the wreck, according to the release.
The video captured Finkelstein being rescued from the front window of the aircraft and helped onto a water rescue raft.
Finkelstein amazingly only sustained a cut to his leg, which he received stitches for at hospital.
The video captured Finkelstein being rescued from the front window of the aircraft and helped onto a water rescue raft
Finkelstein said that he was grateful for the swift response of emergency services who rescued him from the wreckage
‘Members of the Oak Island Beach Safety Unit, as well as the Southport Fire Department and Oak Island Water Rescue were already in the area, having just responded to a water rescue call nearby,’ the release said.
‘Within minutes of his landing in the water, units from multiple agencies were at the plane, and able to swiftly recover Mr. Finkelstein, transporting him back to shore.’
‘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,’ Finkelstein said.
‘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.’
The pilot only sustained a cut to his leg, which he received stitches for at hospital
Finkelstein said that he was grateful for the swift response of emergency services who rescued him from the wreckage.
‘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,’ he said.
