(ALABAMA) - An amazing story of survival. Think you're a big Alabama fan? How about living through a plane crash on your way to the game, and still making kickoff. It actually happened on Saturday. They say Alabama fans bleed crimson. Four very lucky men did not find out what that was like Saturday afternoon.
"I really thought we weren't going to make it for a while. I'm ready to be with the Lord, but I've got a lot of family and stuff," said John White-Spunner, one of the plane survivors.
John White-Spunner is an Auburn grad. His construction business is off I-65. His Bama buddies convinced him to join them on this trip to Tuscaloosa. They had planned a quick stop in Selma for some barbecue. That's when it all went bad.
"Coming in we lost one of the motors. He tried to get it restarted. Couldn't really get it re-started."
Moments later, the other engine began to sputter. 20 miles from the airport, they were quickly losing altitude. They prepared for a crash landing.
"I'm thinking, we're probably getting ready to die."
At 100 miles an hour, they could see nothing but tree tops. John is also a trained pilot, and found a miracle.
"John said, 'There's a road over there', he pointed it out to me, and sure enough, there was a dirt road. Looked like a beacon there, all that red Alabama clay."
It was a crimson runway, but they literally were not out of the woods just yet.
"Both wings hit trees... right wing cut off bigger trees than the left wing... ripped the main tank off the right wing."
Captain Arnold managed to maneuver the wounded Cessna into a cotton field, but the danger wasn't over.
"Looked out and there was fuel pouring out of that tank. I've had friends who have been burned in planes, so I ran to the back, and we got out."
A nearby family heard the plane go down, and came over the hill expecting to see something much different.
"They got out of their car, and everybody started hugging. We got in a circle, and got on our knees and said a prayer to Jesus."
"It was really a miracle."
