‘It’s not often that you see death coming;’ Pilot recounts surviving plane crash in Columbus County

COLUMBUS COUNTY, N.C. (WWAY) — A North Carolina pilot is recounting the terrifying moments he and his wife survived a plane crash in Columbus County earlier this month, walking away from the destroyed aircraft with only minor injuries.

Dustin Davis, a pilot from Hickory, was traveling with his wife and their two dogs on Oct. 7 when their plane lost engine power during a nighttime flight to Ocean Isle Beach.

“It’s not often that you see death coming,” Davis said.

Davis said he and his wife had left church that evening for a regular getaway to Ocean Isle Beach, a trip they had made for several years.

“And we’ve done that trip for several years, 25% of my flight time was at night,” Davis said.

Around 9 p.m., Davis began descending toward Odell Williamson Municipal Airport when the aircraft suddenly lost power.

“We were up to altitude and cruising at 7,500 feet and talking to air traffic control and they had just switched us over to Myrtle Beach for approach and started our descent to Ocean Isle,” Davis said.

The situation quickly became critical as Davis realized he would not be able to reach his intended destination.

“It’s a very surreal feeling, you are always thinking about it as a general aviation pilot and you always know it could happen but you can’t really prepare yourself mentally for when this actually happens especially at night when it’s pitch black and you can’t see anything,” Davis said.

As the aircraft descended toward Whiteville, Davis determined he was too far from Columbus County Regional Airport to land safely.

With the plane rapidly losing altitude, he had only minutes to find somewhere to land.

“And at this point we are losing 1,000 feet per minute and you got six minutes before the inevitable,” Davis said.

Facing what they feared could be their final moments, Davis said he and his wife sat in silence and turned to their faith.

“There was no conversation, it was her praying and me just trying to find a way to survive,” Davis said.

Flying through the darkness, Davis struggled to distinguish between open fields, wooded areas and bodies of water below.

“I’m praying the whole time, Lord just show me something, Lord show me something, because you can’t tell the difference between a field, woods, a pond a swamp or if it’s a barn, you can’t tell,” Davis said.

Around 10 p.m., Davis crashed the aircraft into a wooded area in Columbus County.

He believes the trees helped catch the plane and prevented it from striking the ground directly. Photos from the crash scene show the aircraft’s nose stopped just inches above the ground.

However, Davis said the danger was not over.

“The smell of gas is there and that’s another thing in the back of your mind because we just hit trees I can’t believe we didn’t blow up, now were stuck and there’s gas everywhere and we thought we have to get out of this thing,” Davis said.

Davis and his wife quickly escaped the wreckage with their two dogs. Once outside, they realized how close the aircraft had come to hitting the ground.

Despite the severity of the crash, all four survived.

“I’m born again on life, I mean we’ve got another opportunity to live,” Davis said.

Davis and his wife were taken to a hospital for medical evaluations before returning home to Hickory with only minor injuries. Davis still had a black eye from the crash when he spoke with WWAY.

He said the plane was traveling between 85 and 90 mph when it crashed.

Although the experience was terrifying, Davis said it has not changed his love of flying.

“I mean I’m looking at the sky today and how beautiful and clear it is and thinking boy it’s a good day to fly,” Davis said.