A pilot in North Carolina has survived a night-time forced landing in trees together with his wife and their two dogs, after the engine of their single-engine Piper PA-32 stopped producing power on the evening of Wednesday 7 October. The aircraft ended up hanging in a tree roughly six feet above the ground12. Two weeks later, Dustin and Autumn Davis told local television stations how they lived through the six minutes between the engine failure and the impact134.

Six minutes in the dark

The couple from Hickory had been to church that evening and then took off with their dogs, Sophie and Royce, for their beach house in Ocean Isle Beach, a trip they had flown for several years14. "It was a beautiful night, clear night. You know, there was no moon, so outside of that, it was a dark sky," Davis told WRAL1. He said they were cruising at 7,500 feet and had just started the descent towards Ocean Isle when the engine quit4. "The engine just wasn't producing power," he said1.

ADS-B data from adsb.lol fits that account. The aircraft, registered N31RF, was first picked up climbing east of Hickory at 21:13 local time and then flew south-east at about 7,400 feet. It began to descend at around 22:09. At 22:13, at 6,500 feet, its groundspeed fell from just over 150 to about 125 knots in roughly half a minute. The last position came at 22:15 at 5,300 feet, west of Whiteville5.

At around 6,000 to 6,500 feet, Davis estimated he had roughly six minutes13. The aircraft was losing about 1,000 feet per minute4. The couple worked through the troubleshooting procedures and asked air traffic control for help1. The nearest airport was about eight miles away, too far to reach without power, and there were no roads to land on13.

"When this first happened, she said, 'What can I do?' And I said, 'Babe, just pray, just pray,'" Davis recalled1. Below them was only darkness. "You can't tell the difference between a field, woods, a pond, a swamp or if it's a barn," he told WWAY4.

Nose up, belly first

Davis decided to turn left into the dark. "We didn't know if it was going to be a field. We didn't know if it'd be trees. We didn't know if it'd be a couple houses with no lights on, a barn," he said1. After the turn he saw trees straight ahead. "I got us down to about 74 knots, which is as slow as I could get without going into a stall"1. Just before the trees, he pitched the nose up as hard as he could and let the belly of the aircraft take the impact1.

According to Davis, a tree caught the aircraft before it reached the ground134. Using the lights on their phones, the couple saw they were hanging about six feet up. "Seeing that we were only six feet off the ground, I could not tell you the joy and happiness," Davis said. "We got our dogs and jumped out of that plane."1 They moved quickly, because they could smell fuel everywhere4.

Emergency services received the call at around 22:19. The aircraft was in woodland south of Whiteville in Columbus County, near the junction of Rough and Ready Road and Shade Fisher Road2.

A black eye, and the dogs unhurt

Both occupants were taken to hospital to be checked24. Davis came away with a black eye after hitting his head on the instrument panel, and his wife had neck and back soreness. Both dogs were unharmed1. "I feel like I'm kind of in the bonus rounds at this point," Davis said1. He expects to fly again34.

FAA and NTSB investigating

The FAA confirmed that two people were on board a Piper PA-3226. The FAA aircraft registry lists N31RF as a Piper PA-32-260 that received its first airworthiness certificate in 197772. An NTSB spokesperson said preliminary information indicates the airplane "experienced engine issues and crashed into trees". An investigator will examine the wreckage, and a preliminary report is expected in about 30 days2. What caused the engine to lose power is not yet known12.

What training teaches you about an engine failure

An engine failure in a single-engine aircraft is one of the scenarios every private pilot trains for. In the European PPL(A) skill test, a simulated engine failure after take-off and a simulated forced landing are standard items for single-engine aircraft8. The US Private Pilot ACS requires the applicant to hold the recommended best glide speed within 10 knots and to select a suitable landing area considering altitude, wind, terrain, obstructions and available glide distance9.

For an engine failure at night, the FAA Airplane Flying Handbook sets out a clear sequence: keep control of the aircraft, establish best glide and turn towards an airport; look for the cause, such as the fuel selector or magneto switch position; declare the emergency to air traffic control; and land in the normal landing attitude at the slowest possible airspeed10.

The same handbook gives guidelines for a landing in trees. Make contact at minimum indicated airspeed, but not below stall speed, and "hang" the aircraft in the branches in a nose-high attitude. When the underside of the fuselage and both wings meet the trees together, they cushion the impact and keep the windshield intact. Avoid heavy trunks, and aim for both wings to meet equal resistance so the aircraft keeps its attitude11. Low, closely spaced trees with wide, dense crowns are better than tall trees with thin tops: a free fall from 75 feet means hitting the ground at about 40 knots11. The principle behind it is that wings, landing gear and the fuselage underside can be sacrificed as long as the cabin stays intact11.

Want to know more? Read what to do after an engine failure, what a forced landing is and how the NTSB investigates. Thinking about learning to fly? See what a PPL costs and takes, practise PPL theory or browse flight schools in the United States.