Video Released: Scary Grand Rapids Airplane Emergency Landing

Aviation safety in focus: Video footage of the small plane incident reveals the importance of following protocols for safety in the air. Get the full story on the emergency landing!

I love traveling and have flown on commercial jets for many years. Every once in a while you have to fly from or to a small airport in an equally small plane. If I'm being honest, it's the small planes that scare me the most. You can feel every little pocket of turbulence in your soul in those small planes.

However, I've never considered being in the air on a small plane with the tow bar still attached. This sounds terrifying. That happened with a small passenger plane called a Pilatus PC-12 on Wednesday, January 22nd.

When the pilot realized soon after he took off that he was flying with the tow bar connected, he immediately contacted air traffic control to arrange an emergency landing in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Get our free mobile app

With the horrific plane crashes that just took place in Washington DC and Philadelphia, a lot of pressure is on the U.S. Government when it comes to all of the cuts in aviation that are likely at least partially responsible. This Grand Rapids incident, however, may simply be an operational error by the pilot of a small plane according to Simple Flying,

Operators typically use tow bars to pull their aircraft out of the hangar and onto the runway apron prior to taking off. However, a major oversight occurred as the tow bar was not removed from the front wheel prior to starting up the aircraft and beginning the standard takeoff procedures.

The pilot skilfully and safely landed the plane with the tow bar still attached to the front wheel. All 7 people on board were safe with no injuries.