What are the odds??? Man hit by plane mowing his lawn!

So I saw this article.
I honestly cant grap it.
Imagine mowing your lawn, and a small plane colides with you!

The pilot said he was trying to land and didn’t see the 74-year-old John Rufty on the lawn mower until it was too late.The victim’s left hand was severed in the crash, according to Alexander Emergency Services Director Russell Greene. He was taken by medical helicopter to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem.

The 74 year old man is in stable condition after losing his hand.

The cause of the crash is unknown.

The pilot has not been identified. The investigation is ongoing.

So I will be looking up when I mow the lawn from now on.
myfox8.com...

a reply to: JValhalla


"You had a bad day, the camera don't lie....."

That song immediately popped into my head.

Thats pretty unlucky, and extra lucky not to actually die from it.

Its almost worth telling the now one handed man to buy a lottery ticket.

I assumed it would have been 100% fatal.

a reply to: cosmicexplorer

I guess in the form of odds it is not improbable, however I have heard of way more people being hit by lightning or meteorites.

This has been the first instance of a man hot by a plane while mowing his lawn..that I have ever saw.

a reply to: JValhalla

he should have had an umbrella

a reply to: Biigs

I have to agree. The odds of not dying from a collision like this are miniscule.

The elderly man was mowing the airstrip, the pilot says he didn't see him. That makes any odds a good bit higher.

200,000,000 to 1? Something like that?
Very strange. Up there with the skydiving meteorite story.

I live next to this county and did not hear about this! That is nuts!!

originally posted by: Snakedoctorjw
I live next to this county and did not hear about this! That is nuts!!

I don't live too far off and this is the first I've heard of it...

... of course, I don't listen to the news anymore. I get my news from ATS now. lol

I wanted to add that the first thing that comes to my mind when I read the title was memories of playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. For some reason, planes hated me in that game. I would explain but there was so many instances of planes hitting me out of nowhere that I can't even begin, and I don't want to go off-topic.

I'm glad the man survived. He's got one helluva story to tell the grandkids!

Im in Wilkes county (one county over) and talked with a guy that flies out of tsylorsvile in his little private plane. He said the plane was a tail dragger meaning when it lands the guy in the cockpit cant see anything on the ground because its looking upwards. I would have to say the elderly guy is lucky to be alive and definitely has a new battle story to tell the grands.

a reply to: Aldakoopa


Pleasure to meet you both!

Im glad he's alive, This could have been much worse!

originally posted by: JValhalla
So I saw this article.
I honestly cant grap it.
Imagine mowing your lawn, and a small plane colides with you!

The pilot said he was trying to land and didn’t see the 74-year-old John Rufty on the lawn mower until it was too late.The victim’s left hand was severed in the crash, according to Alexander Emergency Services Director Russell Greene. He was taken by medical helicopter to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem.

The 74 year old man is in stable condition after losing his hand.

The cause of the crash is unknown.

The pilot has not been identified. The investigation is ongoing.

So I will be looking up when I mow the lawn from now on.

myfox8.com...

It wasn't his lawn as you put in the thread title. He was mowing the freaking runway. Let's see, what has more right to be on an airport runway? Airplane? Some guy not paying attention on a lawn mower? I'd like to know what agenda caused the poster to change the title of the article he linked to from "airport" to "his lawn"