This video appeared on YouTube last week and shows a cockpit point-of-view of a small aircraft taking off from a grass strip when suddenly the engine fails.

Apparently, the pilot was completely unharmed, which surprised me. An anonymous commenter on an aviation forum said that the pilot spent ten years building the plane, a two-seater low-wing sports kit-plane called le Pulsar.

On the first touchdown, he was travelling at 130 km/h (80mph). The landing gear broke off and the aircraft bounced. The aircraft then hit the ground still travelling 60km/h (37mph).

The aircraft suffered a broken landing gear, an issue with the engine and “small damages”. The wings, amazingly, appear to be completely intact.

I have to admit, this comment made me laugh:

So, like, what does this Merde! Merde! Merde! mean anyway? Is that French for Mayday Mayday Mayday or what?

Well, something like that, sure.