Pilot shares terrifying video of his own plane crash - and celebrates surviving
This is the moment a pilot captures his own small plane plunging towards the ground, recording the terrifying seconds before impact in footage he later shared on his birthday after surviving the crash.
The incident happened in July 2025 in Cascavel, in the state of Ceara, north-eastern Brazil, with the video published on January 28, the day pilot and businessman Junior Pinheiro turned 39.
Video filmed from inside the cockpit shows the aircraft flying steadily as the terrain stretches out ahead, before the plane suddenly drops and begins a rapid, uncontrolled descent.
The ground can be seen racing closer through the windscreen as the aircraft hurtles downward, with the footage jolting violently at the moment of impact, marking the crash.
Junior later said the aircraft fell from a height equivalent to a seven-storey building.
He said: "It's just like in the movies. You're here and when you close your eyes, you wake up in the hospital, without knowing anything that's happening, with several other people."
In messages shared alongside the video, he thanked supporters for the messages, prayers and concern he received after the accident. Junior was severely injured in the crash, suffering a broken spine, fractured ribs, a head injury and torn knee ligaments.
During his hospital stay, he also developed rhabdomyolysis, which compromised kidney function and required 40 days of haemodialysis, and was later diagnosed with drop foot syndrome, a condition which affects the ability to walk due to weakness or paralysis of certain muscles in the foot.
Pinheiro spent more than 50 days in hospital, including 41 days in intensive care, before being discharged in August 2025.
He said he remains in treatment to regain movement in his legs and shared the footage to mark what he described as celebrating his life every day after surviving the crash.
He added: "I came here to say that I am doing wonderfully well."
Story: Newsflash