Husband, wife, 2 dogs survive North Carolina plane crash thanks to parachute

KENANSVILLE, N.C. — A couple and their two dogs were flying in a small plane from Massachusetts to Florida when it suddenly crashed in North Carolina.

Ken and Becca Brown and their Goldendoodles, Abby and Willa, escaped injury in the Thursday crash in Kenansville, WTVD reported.

Ken Brown said credited a parachute attached to the plane with saving the family's “bacon," as it allowed the plane to safely stop in some trees just feet above the ground.

It's unclear what caused the plane to go down. Ken Brown said the flight seemed average right up until he heard silence.

“About as boring as you can get, and then there was silence,” Brown told WTVD’s partner WCTI. “The engine quit and beyond a couple of things to figure out why, there’s nothing you can do other than find where you are going to end up.”

The Cirrus SR22 had taken off from the Southbridge Municipal Airport in Massachusetts and was heading to Venice Municipal Airport in Florida when it crashed in the grove of trees in Kenansville, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said. The couple had planned to refuel in Elizabethtown, Ken Brown said.

Cirrus said it is the only aircraft manufacturer to offer a parachute system. The parachute is deployed by the pilot and is fueled by a solid-fuel rocket. The crash is then absorbed by specialized landing gear, a roll cage and energy-absorbing seats.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.

Southbridge, Mass. residents survive North Carolina plane crash` Southbridge, Mass. residents survive North Carolina plane crash

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