A 33-year-old pilot from Somerset County, New Jersey, is lucky to be alive after the single-engine Cessna he was flying suffered engine failure and forced him to land in a wooded area where the plane got stuck 70-feet up in a tree.
An airport worker told CBS.com that he saw the plane approaching the runway and coming over the trees when it suddenly dropped out of the sky.
The pilot, who asked not to be identified, called first responders and told them he was not injured, but he was stuck up in a tree in the plane.
When local police arrived, Lt. John Crater of the Manville Police called skilled tree climbers to the scene to help the trapped man. After four hours of securing the plane to the tree, the climbers were able to rappel down with the pilot.
The NTSB kept the plane under supervision last night and will be removing it from the tree today.
Photo: Getty Images