9. Our boat threw us ten feet and starting sinking

“When I was 19 my buddy and I went fishing is a pretty big lake up in Gainesville Florida, I was sitting at the very front with the cooler to try to balance out the weight and while we were crossing the middle of the lake in our gheenoe we had a paddle strapped to the side and it caught the water while we were going about 20mph, it threw us probably 7-10 ft and immediately started sinking. About five minutes before that happened we decided to put both of our phones in a water proof box which ultimately saved us bc there was no one else out that day given it was a little chilly outside. So after we were in the water the boat started sinking fast but my friend and I stayed calm and started brainstorming on what we should do. First thing I did was swim down to the boat and by feel had to find the phones, once that happened we called the police but there response time was awful, we were treading in water that was cold enough to give us hypothermia, with the box that had our phones in it over our heads for about 50 minuets until the dispatch lady said they were commandeering someone else’s boat because there’s wasn’t starting. Once we got out the officers told us that they were expecting to find us dead either from getting stuck on the mushy bottom and drowning or by some of the big gators but luckily we didn’t encounter any of them. After the ambulance took our temperature and we came back fine they proceeded to makes sure we were okay then let us get on with our day. Life and death situations are no joke and they can happen at anytime. Make sure you are prepared mentally and physically, your life or your friends may depend on you and how you’ve trained.” — LordLogan27

10. My plane landed in a field and flipped over

“Flying in a single-engine Cessna 210, my family was on the final leg of a 2 week camping trip. My dad, piloting, had started the decent down when at 3,000 feet, our engine started rattling uncontrollably. 10 year old me remembers seeing the oil temperature gauge in the red, but not understanding the significance. As the rattling got worse, my dad shut the engine off and radioed Mayday to the tower. That’s when I started to pray. We were only 5 ish miles from our final destination, but we had to make an emergency landing in a field.

I remember staring out the window at the ground thinking about my cat, and my mom leaning back from the co-pilot seat to tell my brother and I to pull our legs up for the crash position. My dad exchanged a few other words with the controller and then shut the rest of the plane down.

We hit the ground a little fast at 80 knots (normal is 65-70 kts). Our front gear struck an irrigation pipe running across the field which caused it to shear off. Without a front gear, our nose hit the field and we went belly-side up.

When I came to, everything was eerily dark, and I was hanging upside down. My dad basically ripped the doors off the back of the plane to get my brother and I out. My family was shaken up, but okay.

The farmer appeared minutes later, absolutely astonished. Then, five news helicopters starting circling. Traffic was backed up for miles around the field as people strained to get a look. Then the paramedics arrived. My mom likes to joke they were a bit disappointed to find ‘victims of a plane crash’ to be standing around chatting. The worst injury of the lot was my cut lip which I cut with my own teeth in the jolt of the crash. And my parents got some bruising from seat belts a few days later.

The farmer’s wife gave my brother and I cheese-its and honey sticks and I can’t eat them to this day. And the first thing I did when I got back home was hug my cat, as a ten year old does.

As far as my individual story goes, I got my pilot’s license three years ago at the age of 18. I’m now in school to become an aerospace engineer where I hope to one day design planes that save people like this one saved my life. It failed in the most elegant of ways, and my dad’s quick thinking and training was able to see us to the ground alive.

And for those wondering what happened to the plane, an unidentified object clogged the oil filter in the engine leading to a piston overheating, snapping, and punching a hole in the side of the engine.” — iforgottoeatlunch