Pilot climbs out of cockpit and restarts engine by hand in death-defying video
Published on Apr 17, 2023 at 5:07 AM (UTC+4)
by Kate Bain
Last updated on Jul 24, 2023 at 12:07 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
A pilot has been forced to restart the engine of his small plane by hand in mid-air.
The death-defying stunt, which looks like a scene out of Top Gun, was caught on camera too.
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In the footage, two men in the small aircraft can be heard calmly talking through their options when their engine fails during the flight.
With the propeller appearing to be stuck, the man in the front seat realizes the danger of their situation and decides to restart it by hand.
So, with just a rope tied around his waist for safety, he climbs out of the cockpit and steps out onto the wing strut.
He then reaches around to the front of the plane and spins the propeller with his right hand, hoping to unstick it.
The propeller whirs back to life and the pilot is able to pull himself back inside the cockpit.
Meanwhile, his friend in the back of the plane says a simple “thanks” and laughs about the situation they’ve found themselves in.
“That’s a good safety harness right there,” he jokes.
The two men then pull a few maneuvers to get the plane whirring to life again and the danger of their situation appears to be over.
Despite the chaos, the two men remain totally calm throughout, so obviously had total faith in their ability to get the engine working again.
The video, which just resurfaced on Instagram after first going viral in 2020, has unsurprisingly garnered hundreds of comments.
While most were shocked by the pilot’s daring actions, other pilots weighed in arguing there were other, far safer ways to address the engine failure.
“All you have to do is pitch down to increase airspeed and the propeller will start windmilling. That’s what we do for the restart when we shut down a multi,” one said.
Another agreed, saying all they had to do was pitch the aircraft down to gain speed, and “the plane would have restarted itself”.
Regardless of whether it was the ‘right’ way to do it, the pilot brought the engine back to life and prevented something terrible from happening to him and his passenger.
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Kate Bain is the Page Editor at supercarblondie.com. She is based in Dubai and coordinates coverage of the latest news across automotive, technology, and lifestyle. Kate has a bachelor's degree in business and post graduate in journalism. She is an experienced editor and journalist who has worked for News Corp, Daily Mail Australia, and Sky News. When she's not at work, you'll find her attached at the hip to her dog, Thor.
