An Arkansas congressional candidate was trying to land his single-engine airplane at the Sharp County Regional Airport on Friday when a gust of wind came out of nowhere, shaking the wings and making the plane unstable.
Jody Shackelford, 36, of Cherokee Village, decided to do a "go-around" and come back in for another landing attempt.
"I ascended for a brief moment and did catch a little altitude, but then my engine sputtered and just died," he said.
At that point, the plane was gliding, and Shackelford couldn't get the engine to start.
There were trees on his left and trees on his right. Straight ahead, there were trees, a hill and a tractor.
Through a gap in the trees, Shackelford said he could see cars traveling on U.S. 62. He knew he couldn't make it all the way to the highway, but the fact that he could see the highway meant there was a clearing in the trees. Shackelford aimed for the clearing, thinking "maybe the wings will bust off" but the fuselage will make it through.
"What I didn't realize was that there was this wire fence between me and the treeline," said Shackelford. "So I smacked into that and, believe it or not, I think it acted like a net and absorbed some of the energy.
"A big rush of stuff hit me in my face," he said. "I felt like I got punched by Mike Tyson."
Fuel was spewing from the plane.
"My first thought was, I'm alive," he said. "My second thought was, I'm going to burn to death."
Shackelford climbed out of the plane.
"I tried to stand up and I immediately knew my back was broke," he said.
Shackelford went back into the plane to get his cellphone and call his wife for help.
He was taken by ambulance to White River Medical Complex in Cherokee Village, then transferred to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.
Shackelford said he has a broken back, ribs, hand and nose. The back injuries may require back surgery.
"It was a heck of a ride," he said. "I don't know what happened."
Shackelford said it was either pilot error or a mechanical error.
"I cannot think of a single thing I did wrong as a pilot," he said. "But that doesn't mean I didn't do anything wrong."
Peter C. Knudson, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said they are investigating and should have a preliminary report done in a couple of weeks. He said Shackelford was flying a Bellanca 17-30A from Baxter County Airport near Mountain Home to the Sharp County Regional Airport near Cherokee Village.
The airplane is registered to Shackelford, according to Federal Aviation Administration records. It was built in 1971.
Shackelford said he's been a pilot for two years, and he bought the plane a year ago.
According to a report from the Cherokee Village Police Department, Shackelford's plane crashed into a boundary fence at the airport past the south end of the runway.
"The left wing was severely damaged and had dislodged the fuel tank from inside of the wing to the top of what was remaining of the left wing, leaning against the cab of the plane," according to the police report. "The right wing of the plane had gone underneath the other side of the fence and was partially damaged. The nose of the plane had severe damage along with the propellers being knocked off."
Shackelford's wife was waiting for him at the airport.
"Crystal Shackelford stated she was waiting for her husband to land and noticed that he had missed the runway and when he went to circle around that he had just vanished," according to the report.
Shackelford, a lawyer with his main office in Highland, is running against incumbent U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford and state Rep. Brandt Smith in the March 24 Republican primary election in Arkansas' First Congressional District.
Shackelford said he had received a get-well text from Crawford.
On Facebook, Shackelford wrote, "In my run for office, I'm still in the game. I told my wife that I might have dropped out of the sky but I'm not dropping out of this race."
Shackelford said the injury may slow his campaigning a little. He can walk with a cane at the moment.
"I can walk but it's more of a Shackelford shuffle," he said.
Jody Shackelford