OSSIPEE, N.H. (AP) – An aerobatic pilot escaped without a scratch when his plane spun out of control as he practiced Sunday over Ossipee.
Lochland Jeffries, 51, an Air Force veteran and commercial pilot bailed out of the single-seat biplane and parachuted to safety before it nose-dived into the woods. Jeffries said he had been practicing loops, rolls and spins and other moves for about 20 minutes when he lost control as he tried to roll out of a vertical loop at about 3,000 feet.
Jeffries said he called on 11,000 hours of piloting experience and more than 1,000 parachute jumps as a member of the Air Force Pararescue unit to save himself.
At 1,800 feet, he turned off the power and let go of the controls.
The plane continued spinning. At 1,700 feet, he said, he popped the canopy then jumped when the plane was 1,500 feet above ground.
“The decision was already made for me,” Jeffries said. “I knew what I was going to do when 1,500 feet showed up on my altimeter. If I wasn’t under control at 1,500 feet, I was bailing out.”
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash.
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