The heart-stopping moment a stunt plane snapped apart mid-air - and the pilot walked away with just an injured foot



This is the terrifying moment a pilot nearly lost his life after the wing of his plane snapped off mid-air.

But Argentine pilot Dino Moline managed to activate the plane's ballistic parachute - walking away from the crash with just a burnt foot.

These dramatic new images released today show the accident unfolding as the 22-year-old was performing in an air display in Santa Fe, Argentina.

See the video below



On a wing and a prayer: The heart-stopping moment a stunt plane snapped apart mid-air

The 3,000 onlookers could only watch in horror as the wing snapped off his RANS Air Brigade Plane 1,640 feet above the ground - while it was upside down in the middle of a manoeuvre.



The plane began to spin dangerously out of control.

But Mr Moline managed to dodge death by deploying the parachute, which slowed his sickening fall to earth.

The plane crashed to the ground in a roar of flames, but Mr Moline escaped alive with minor injuries.



'I don't know what happened to me,' he wrote on the website for 'Show Aereo 2010 following the incident on on August 15.

Escape: Dino Moline managed to activate the plane's ballistic parachute Down: plane heads towards the ground

'I believe it was metal fatigue.

'I felt an explosion. I saw a shadow passing to the side of me - it was the wing.'

In what surely qualifies as the understatement of the year, he added: 'I saw fire inside the plane and I despaired a little.

'My foot got burned but I'm fine.'

The plane, according to an Aviation News website, is made in the U.S.

It is sold in components and sold to buyers to put together themselves at home - a detail that could give further insight into the crash.

It is not known if Mr Moline's plane had been modified at all.



Crash: Plane hits the ground

Impact: Argentine pilot Dino Moline had managed to activate the plane's ballistic parachute

See the video here



