Small plane makes emergency landing in north Harris County neighborhood

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- It was an emergency landing in northwest Harris County Tuesday that could have had a tragic ending. Two men onboard knew something was wrong just minutes into the flight.

"I was walking back from summer school and that's when me and my friends were singing a song and that's when the thing popped," said witness VV Reid. "We were like, what in the world, and that's when it started flying slowly down."

"You could actually hear a loud scraping metal sound and that's when I realized, 'Oh snap. He's about to crash, and he ended up crashing," witness Darren Evans said.

The single-engine two-seat plane took off from Bush airport for a business trip to Austin. Minutes after takeoff, something went wrong with the engine.

"He said it started running rough and then it just died," said DPS trooper Richard Standifer.

Standifer says they landed in a field at the end of Laurel Bank Drive, narrowly missed a light pole, and ended up a yard.

"The passenger of the plane released the parachute, and they were able to set it down," he said.

A Precinct 4 deputy saw it coming down and drove street by street to find it. When he got there, he found the pilot and the passenger up walking around.

People in the neighborhood say it could have been a much different story.

"I was kind of surprised at the fact that he could actually land without hitting someone's house or hurting someone," said Evans. "It could have been a very bad accident."

Amazingly, the passengers only had cuts on their heads.