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IPFS News Link • Transportation: Air Travel

Nail-biting moment pilot lands his homemade plane in a storm as he battles...

• https://www.dailymail.co, By DARREN BOYLE

This is the terrifying moment a Tennessee farmer has to battle stormy weather conditions to bring his small plane safely down to land.

Jon Humberd, 44, from Cleveland, Tennessee, thought he had time to take a quick flight before weather closed in but instead found himself trying to avoid 'an extreme disaster'.

However, after taking to the skies in search of a 'potentially cool sunset', Mr Humberd saw clouds gathering far quicker than expected. 

Along with the thunder clouds, Mr Humberd's aircraft was buffeted by turbulence as winds increased dramatically. 

Then, with more than a mile to go before his landing strip, rain started falling. 

Mr Humberd was flying a Zenith Aircraft 701 which is not equipped with a windshield wiper as they are only intended to be used in good weather.

His aircraft, which he built himself from a kit, is fitted with several cameras which recorded the speed at which the weather conditions deteriorated. 

Worse still for Mr Humberd, the rain was so heavy it was difficult to see out his windshield to pick out his narrow landing strip which is surrounded by tall trees. 

As he approached his grass strip on his 400-acre farm, the video captured the Mr Humberd's struggle to keep his aircraft on the right path. 

Mr Humberd said he had a strong tail wind which is not ideal when trying to land on a short strip. 

Planes try to land into the wind as this allows them to reduce speed on approach and they need less runway to come safely to a halt. 

As he reaches the runway, Mr Humberd struggles to lose enough speed to allow the aircraft to land. 

Even when aircraft makes it down, it continues getting buffeted by the wind. 


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