Flight school student crashed plane, walked away uninjured, witnesses say

HANCEVILLE, Ala. — Amber Barnett was walking down to her mailbox Wednesday, when she saw a small white plane crash into the field in front of her Holly Pond home.

Barnett says she saw the plane hit a ditch in the field and flip over.

“It scared me to death because the nurse in me wanted to go help the pilot but I was scared the plane was going to explode. So I kind of rocked back and forth in the road for a while,” Barnett explained.

She called her husband Brandon, and then walked over to the plane, where she saw a man in his young 20’s step out of the overturned aircraft.

“I was probably 30 yards from the plane when I saw him come out of the door and stand up and I said are you okay and he started walking toward me and was just asking for a telephone,” she said.

The young man is a student in the flight school at Wallace State Community College. The college, along with local authorities, are not releasing his name.

“I kept saying 'are you okay, are you okay? Did you hit your head? Did you have a helmet on?'” recalled Barnett. “And he said, 'I’m fine. I’m fine.' A while after the accident I went back to him and said 'are you sure you’re okay?' and he simply raised up his pants leg and had a small scratch on his legI was amazed. I was terrified went I went towards him, what I was going to find. So I was amazed he was okay.”

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating now. A spokesman tells ABC 33/40 the pilot reported a problem with the engine, before landing here in the empty field.

“I was expecting the worst,” added Brandon Barnett. ‘I was amazed he got up and walked around.”

Barnett went on to explain how the young man appeared shaken. He and his wife were also in shock, after witnessing the plane crash so close to their home.

The NTSB told ABC 33/40 it is working to determine why the engine lost power. It is expected to complete the investigation in the next three to six months.