Kirby '11, Greenwald '81 survive plane crash

The two met at an alumni dinner and bonded over their mutual interest in flying.

Kirby and Greenwald were flying in an Extra 300 aircraft piloted by Greenwald and were coming in to land when the right wing of the plane clipped the mast of a sailboat that was in the channel located right in front of the runway.

“We had a very nice, uneventful flight,” Greenwald said. “I was flying a normal approach. The end of the runway is right up against the sea wall, and a sailboat without sails flying, motoring at low speed, crossed my path. Any airplane 50 feet above the runway is in a position of compromised visibility. Once the right wing was off, the plane was flying on its side.”

“I knew there was no way we could recover,” Kirby said. “I knew we were going to crash, and crashes like that, people don’t normally walk away from … [Once] we hit, all of a sudden, everything was really calm. I really thought I was going to die.”

Greenwald said that there was little time to react but that his instincts as a pilot took over.

“Drunk people survive car crashes because they’re relaxed, so I made a conscious effort to relax, my second reaction was to clear the sea wall, and my third was that we might die in this accident,” Greenwald said.

The plane was upside down when it came to a stop, and Greenwald was able to punch his way out of the plane.

Four or five people had to flip the plane to remove Kirby from the wreckage, however.

Kirby credits Greenwald’s skills as a pilot as the reason they were able to survive the crash.

“If we were a couple inches lower, we would have hit the sea wall, and we would have died instantly,” Kirby said. “We were going about 100 miles per hour, and Dan completely saved our lives because he was able to clear the sea wall.”

“He’s one of the best pilots,” Kirby added.

Both agreed that the crash was unavoidable on their part.

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“I absolutely blame the sailboat because we have right of way,” Greenwald said. “The sailboat … was as close to the runway as it could be. I would certainly not have flown into a sailboat if I had seen it.”

Kirby broke his left leg in two places and fractured five bones in his foot, while Greenwald has broken bones in his left hand and sustained many bruises. Neither will be able to return immediately to school or work.

“I can’t put pressure on my leg for three months,” Kirby said. “I’m in … the biggest cast that anyone has ever seen. They’ve been teaching me how to get around. It’s getting easier, but I’m still pretty weak.”

Kirby plans to return to school in January to take his finals.

“I called the dean of my residential college, and they called my professors, who were all great and said that they’ll do whatever they can to make sure I can finish out the semester,” he said.

Greenwald said he hopes to return to his job as a plastic surgeon in no more than a week and a half, explaining that he should be fine in the operating room because his dominant hand was not injured in the crash.

Though Greenwald said that the crash didn’t scare him and wouldn’t prevent him from returning to the skies, Kirby wasn’t as sure.

“I’ve been thinking about it. I thought that if I got back in a plane, it would be with the same person; he’s just the best,” Kirby said. “I’ll probably get back in, but it might take some time, I guess.”

Greenwald and Kirby both said they were grateful to be alive.

“We were so lucky, it was like a miracle,” Kirby said. “I’m just really happy to be alive.”

“We both survived something fairly profound,” Greenwald said. “The part of me that is most unhappy is the part that worries about my friend.”