This is a video of the deHavilland beaver plane crash at Lake Hood in Anchorage AK, on June 7, 2009. My father and I were videotaping planes at Lake Hood taking off and landing when the wind kicked up and sent the Beaver taking off right at us.

The wing was less than 5 feet over our heads, and the radial engine was less than 8 feet to my left. No exaggeration!! The Slow motion at the end gives a little better look at how close it was. Everyone onboard was in pristine condition, 2 adults, 2 children and 2 dogs.

Update here.

Thanks to qb




  1. LibertyLover says:

    airspeed. Airspeed! AIRSPEED!

    Not enough to leave ground effect.

    Pilot error.

  2. sargassso says:

    No actual, beavers were harmed in the making of this movie.

  3. Gary, the dangerous infidel says:

    lol #2 sargassso, PETA representatives were swarming over the crash site before they realized that it wasn’t actual beavers.

  4. jescott418 says:

    You could tell by the sound of the engine it had a problem? Maybe the plane was overloaded.
    It did not appear to gain much speed on the water. Deffinatly pilot error. Had time to abort and did not.

  5. Jägermeister says:

    #2, #3

    LOL

  6. bobbo says:

    “Lucy, you got some splaining to do!”

    Why he didn’t stick with the waterway on his right is beyond me.

    Overloaded, always an issue. Less power always an issue. Flaps not lowered?

    Anyway, a dumbshit 3 different ways.

  7. jimmy james says:

    Obviously fake. It looks photoshopped.

    It is probably video from a game, most likely a BF2 mod.

    [Don’t be an idiot! – ed.]

  8. bill says:

    Did anyone make it off the lake using that direction?

    Kind of a short take off area.

    The pontoons never went on the step..

  9. Some Canadian fishing trip to a remote lodge with the world famous Avro Twin Otter bush pilots plane

  10. AdmFubar says:

    hhmm if i looked up lake hood correctly, it is right next to ted stevens/anchoage international airport, how does one take video of aircraft and not have homeland security come by and taser you off to gitmo?

    is it me of does the wind in this video look like it is coming from the right of the plane?
    which is our left….?????

  11. jc says:

    Wow, talking about close. I would have been edging away when the plane started heading directly for me…

  12. PMitchell says:

    so sad such a beautiful piece of history destroyed

  13. Moose says:

    Yeah, pilot should have aborted that well before getting near the shore. Possible he was showboating or a boundless optimist, but the usual rule of thumb is that you abort if you run out of enough water to do an immediate emegency landing for engine failure. He went well past that mark without doing ANYTHING, and then tried to force it up in the air at the last second.

  14. Bob says:

    Looks like he saw the camera man, and was going to show off and take off over him instead of using the water way. I don’t think it turned the way he wanted it to.

  15. Jägermeister says:

    Quite an expensive motor hoe.

  16. Dave T says:

    I have experience as a pilot of a small plane. That it what is called a stall. It appeared the plane was over loaded. Definitely didn’t get enough speed. The pilot thought once he got the pontoons off the water he would pick up enough speed and go. He shouldn’t have taken that chance with passengers on board.

  17. hhopper says:

    He almost made it except for the fence.

  18. LibertyLover says:

    #10, Yes, the wind was on his right. Small wavelets and the shoreline on the left of the screen was smooth — both are a dead giveaways to which direction you land and take off from.

    You can also see more spray on the left side of the plane during taxiing as well.

    Interesting note: The first time you see the windsock, it is down. The second time it is straight out. He did get a gust on his right wing just after lifting off. It’s possible this did contribute to the accident as he is claiming but his angle of attack was way too high for his airspeed. He should have been taking off cross-screen instead coming at the cameraman.

    I still call pilot error.

  19. RapidRoy says:

    If you look at the wind sock at 41 second mark before the plane passes it. There is no measurable wind.

  20. Improbus says:

    No explosion? I feel cheated. Could we have Micheal Bay CGI in an explosion and maybe turn the plane into a Transformer? That would be great. Thanks.

  21. Nimby says:

    How sad. I’m glad no one was injured but that is a beautiful plane. I had the pleasure of flying one many years ago. I wasn’t appropriately certified so another pilot had to do the takeoff and landing (on the Colorado River) but in between she was mine and that aircraft is a pleasure to fly. Even at cruise, it seemed like there was always something that needed the pilot’s attention. It just seemed like a living, breathing creature. Planes these days, it seems once you’re off the ground and have your trim set, it just drives itself. But, in the deHaviland, you could form a real bond with the aircraft.

  22. sac says:

    Close counts in horse shoes, hand grenades, and nuclear warfare. That was a crash.

  23. The beaver is a great plane. They haven’t made them in many years. What a shame to lose one.

    Of course, it’s good that everyone lived.

    But, if some people can mourn the loss of a perfectly good bus, I can mourn the loss of a great plane, can’t I?

  24. #26 – Alfred,

    At least if you’re going to sell severely sexist jokes, tell good ones.

  25. BertDawg says:

    The pilot never let it get up on the step. It seemed like he was applying up elevator the whole time, which would not allow the aircraft to reach takeoff speed. Glad nobody was seriously hurt, ’cause it could have been much worse.

  26. Mr. Fusion says:

    #27, Scott,

    That is a sad story. I’m not sure if I should thank you for bringing it to my attention, with the accompanying grief, or jump for joy at the cleansing of the gene pool. Whatever, I’ll wait for a sign from god to tell me what to do.

    😉

  27. #30 – Mr. Fusion,

    Excellent deadpan. From anyone else, I’d have trouble guessing whether you were serious and had missed the source of the story. From you, I can confidently call it not merely a note of sarcasm, but an entire symphony of it. Well done.


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