Intense video that went viral on Sunday shows Los Angeles Police Department officers rescuing a pilot seconds before a train crashes into his downed aircraft.
In bodycam footage shared by the LAPD on Twitter, multiple officers can be seen pulling the injured pilot from the downed plane that had crashed in the middle of train tracks. The first responders and pilot escape the tracks seconds before a train plows through the wreckage.
“Go, go, go, go, go!” an officer yells while the group runs from the wreckage as a train whistle blares.
Twitter user Luis Jimenez posted another angle of the incident, providing a better view of how the train demolished the downed plane upon impact.
“Foothill Division Officers displayed heroism and quick action by saving the life of a pilot who made an emergency landing on the railroad tracks at San Fernando Rd. and Osborne St., just before an oncoming train collided with the aircraft,” the LAPD tweeted, along with the video.
LAPD Officer Damien Castro said his “training and experience kicked in” and that “the adrenaline helped” the officers handle the intense situation, NBC 4 reported.
“When things like that happened, you just go and do it,” Castro said. “You don’t really have time to think.”
Castro and Officer Robert Sherock were among the first responders on the scene after the single-engine plane, departing from Whiteman Airport, went down.
“By the time we got [the pilot] out… four to five seconds passed as the train basically disintegrated the plane right on the tracks and kept going right through,” Sherock said.
The pilot received medical assistance from the Los Angeles Fire Department before being transported to a nearby hospital.
“I think this guy needs to buy a lottery ticket because he pretty much cheated death twice within 10 minutes,” Sherock added.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane was a single-engine Cessna 172. The FAA confirmed that the pilot was the only individual on board at the time of the crash, and no one on the ground was injured.
There was no fire as a result of the downed aircraft. A minor fuel spill was quickly contained by first responders.
Both the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the accident, with future updates being handled by the NTSB.
