A California woman miraculously survived a freak accident on Tuesday when a small plane crashed into her pickup truck after failing to take off.
Single mother Dee Arata, 41, was on her way to work from her home in Yuba City around 6 a.m. when a single-engine Republic RC-3 reportedly crashed into a fence and struck her white pickup truck on a back road.
“I saw it a few seconds before it hit me, maybe about a second,” Arata said. He told KCRA.
“I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I saw something big and white, so I turned my head and there it was, a plane, and I said out loud, ‘Oh no, I’m being hit’.”
Firefighter Reported to the broadcasting station The crop duster was attempting to take off from a runway near a road, but was unable to get enough air, leading to the accident. Neither the pilot nor Arata were seriously injured.
“I can’t believe I survived being hit by a plane,” she said.
Images from the scene showed the truck’s windshield shattered and the driver’s side door smashed out, with the plane parked in a field a few yards away.
According to reports, Arata drives to work as a surgical nurse and usually avoids major roads where traffic can be heavy.
“I prefer to take country roads because I don’t have to worry about traffic jams and cars hitting me,” she told the station.
“I never once thought, ‘I have to worry about the plane.'”
After the accident, Arata was able to escape from the car, barely able to limp.
She also checked on the pilot before going to the hospital.
“He said, ‘Are you OK?’ and we hugged each other,” she recalled.
“He said, ‘I’m so sorry,’ and I thought, ‘So it was an accident. Accidents happen.’
