GoPro captures pilot making hard landing at Hawthorne Airport

HAWTHORNE, Calif. (KABC) -- A GoPro captured the moment a pilot was forced to make a hard landing in Hawthorne after his flight instructor made a miscalculation.

It happened Wednesday at the Hawthorne Airport.

Wes Arnold, who recently purchased the plane, was preparing for his upcoming exam with his flight instructor.

The 36-year-old says the instructor miscalculated the landing, pushing the limits of the plane at a high rate of speed. In the GoPro footage, you can see the wings of the plane shaking as the aircraft skids clockwise down the runway.

You can hear the instructor blaming himself.

"Well, I owe you $50,000," he said.

"I freaking trashed your airplane."

"It's all good," Arnold replied.

"No, it's not good," the pilot said.

Arnold said after the landing, the two sat on the runway and prayed together.

"It was such a beautiful moment in a storm and just grateful God kept us safe," he said.

A GoFundMe has been started to help Wes Arnold cover the cost of repairs to his airplane.

AIR7 captured the moment Arnold was comforting his instructor as crews worked around the plane's damaged wing.

"Obviously, you can see the [propeller] striked and bent it completely," he said. "You can see there's cracks right here where it kind of compacted on the front of the aircraft, so this whole thing will need to be taken apart, which is about $30,000 for them to redo the motor."

Arnold purchased the plane in Oregon less than a year ago and flew it to Southern California.

He said he's working with the Federal Aviation Administration and his insurance company to get the plane fixed.

"Accidents happen and just grateful that nobody was injured," he said.