Small plane clips SUV while landing on Texas runway (w/ video)

Small plane clips SUV while landing on Texas runway

Associated Press
Nov. 5, 2012

ROANOKE, TX — The wife of a pilot whose single-engine plane clipped a passing SUV while landing at a Texas airport over the weekend caught the collision on tape.

William Davis was trying to land at the Northwest Regional Airport in Roanoke on Saturday when he clipped an SUV that was driving adjacent to the runway. Davis' wife happened to be filming the landing and caught the collision on video.

In the video, you can see the plane descending toward the roadway as an SUV drives along the access road and eventually directly underneath the aircraft. The plane's fixed wheel hit the top of the SUV, nearly ripping off the roof in the process.

The crash sent debris flying, including the plane's landing gear.

The plane took a sharp nose-dive into the ground and skidded off the runway. The roadway is a public road that runs perpendicular to the runway and provides access to the east side of the regional airport.

The couple in the car, Frank and Heather Laudo of Flower Mound, were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

"I saw it about a second before it hit us. I was opening my mouth to go 'duck!'" Frank Laudo said. "The next thing you know there's shattering."

"It was kind of like a hawk with its talons coming up and scooping the car," Heather Laudo said. "And the talons breaking off."



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhNFHnGIytQ