Plane lucky! Pilot crash-lands in narrow suburban street and escapes unharmed



A pilot and his wife crash-landed in a suburban street in Germany which was barely wider than their plane's wingspan.

Remarkably the couple escaped from the Cessna unharmed after clipping a house and a lamppost as they came down in the narrow road.



The hobby pilot managed to send a Mayday message to ground controllers near Frankfurt in Germany before telling them: 'We're going in - I have no option.'

Squeezy does it: The Cessna sport plane crash landed in this street in Stockstadt, Germany - despite the street barely being wider than the wingspan

The motor of the plane began to fail in the skies above the town of Stockstadt in Bavaria as the 47-year-old pilot was flying from Reichelsheim near Frankfurt to Aschaffenburg.

Unable to spot a clear green field that wasn't dotted with hedges, animals or trees, he saw the 15-foot wide street in Stockstadt as his best and only option.

The green and white aircraft touched down with the wings overlapping the street, tearing down a hedge, a street lamp and a satellite dish.

Then as it came close to a line of parked cars the nose of the aircraft tipped forward and ploughed into the asphalt of the road, slowing its speed considerably.

Lucky escape: The pilot clipped the side of a house and a lamppost as he crash landed after the Cessna developed a mechanical fault

As it came to a stop with its nose pointing into the ground, homeowners rushed out to help the pilot and co-pilot.

'This was a spectacular act of skill on the part of the pilot in such a small space,' said police spokesman Michael Zimmer.

Both occupants of the aircraft walked away with only light injuries.

The couple, who have been hobby fliers for many years, had charted the plane earlier in the day to fly to Achaffenburg for a day out. They needed treatment in a local hospital before being allowed to go home - by train.