Video obtained by NBC 4 New York shows just how close a small plane got to a building on Long Island as it parachute-landed in front of it, dropping suddenly from the sky before the father and daughter inside managed to climb out and walk away.
The Cirrus SR22 aircraft lost engine power at about 3 p.m. Saturday as it approached a runway at Republic Airport in Farmingdale, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The pilot, Louis Obergh, deployed the plane's parachute and it came down in front of the Pall Corporation building in a small industrial park in Hauppauge, about eight miles from the airport.
Video shows the plane hitting the ground with the red-and-white parachute attached to it blooming above it before draping over the roof of the single-story building. The tail of the plane goes up, then dips down, and seconds later the father and daughter walk away.
"The engine died -- I pulled the parachute and we landed," said Obergh, returning home from a trip to the University of Rhode Island with his daughter.
"We never expected to ever have a problem with this," he said.
Hauppauge Fire Chief Eugene Oliver called the crash-landing "picture perfect."
Obergh had a small scratch on his head from the accident. His daughter was not injured.
The owner of Nassau Flyers, the only Cirrus training center on Long Island, says parachute technology on planes has saved 125 people.
Local
"Every aircraft that has come out of the factory has had that parachute technology," said Don Vogle.
Recent Cirrus parachutes have also been deployed in Danbury, Connecticut, and Haverstraw, New York.
Investigators were packing up the parachute in Hauppauge Monday, preparing to move the plane.
""We got very lucky," Obergh said.
The Cirrus plane cost just under $1 million to purchase.
