Good Samaritan Pulls Pilot From Mesquite Plane Wreckage

As he watched a small plane go down in Mesquite, Steven Glasscock wished he was in the cockpit.

“I wanted to be in there with him. I wanted to help him. I wanted to be in that cockpit. I was really familiar with that airport and the environment. I’m a flight instructor and I’ve taught a lot of students out there,” said Glasscock.

Glasscock had just landed from a flight with a friend when they overheard there was an emergency aircraft inbound.

He said as a stranger jumped in their car to head towards the field where the plane would touch down, he hopped in the passenger seat.

A mile later when they’d driven as close as they could get, he hopped a barbed wire fence and began to run.

“The field that I was running through was extremely muddy, and it was hard to run through. It was almost like a nightmare when you can’t run is what it felt like. My boots were just bogging down in the mud, and that’s when I heard someone scream,” said Glasscock.

On a plane built to hold nine, there was fortunately only one. And in that moment, Glasscock knew the pilot was alive and in need of help.

“He was injured really badly, so every time I attempted to pick him up he screamed. I said, ‘I know it hurts man, but I’ve got to get you out of here.’ And he said, ‘I know’,” said Glasscock.

He managed to pull the man a short distance from the plane before heading back in to cut power and use a fire extinguisher, hoping the flames from the wings that had ripped off nearby wouldn’t spread to them.

It was something he easily knew to do as he found himself dealing with the exact plane he once flew.

“It’s kind of surreal. It really is that I just happened to be there,” said Glasscock.

Shortly after, police and then fire and rescue crews arrived. They helped the pilot onto a CareFlite and made sure the fire was contained.

Today, Glasscock’s just grateful the pilot got away with his life from a crash those who watched were sure he wouldn’t survive.