Just a day before the official release of his documentary on Tuesday, the owner of the DeLaurentis International Airport near Oak Harbor survived a crash that occurred during a landing at a Spokane airport.

Robert DeLaurentis, a seasoned adventurer with over 2,400 flight hours as a private pilot, was flying solo from Whidbey to Felts Field airport near Spokane Monday night on board his trusted Gulf Stream Turbine Commander 900, named “Citizen of the World.”

The visibility was low that day, he said. As he emerged from the clouds at approximately 500 feet of altitude, he spotted the runway to his left, so he turned.

Planes tend to lose a bit of altitude during a turn, he said, so he advanced the throttle — which he said is a standard procedure. Suddenly, he heard a “loud popping sound” and felt the plane vibrate with vigor. Then, at approximately 100 feet above the ground, the engines lost power, causing the plane to lose altitude.

After futile attempts to prevent a dangerous descent, DeLaurentis prepared for a violent impact, expecting to lose consciousness or feel his spine and neck compress. The plane eventually crashed not too far from the runway at a speed of over 115 miles per hour, he said. This didn’t stop the plane, which slid on the ground causing the gear to collapse and the wing tip to get torn off.

DeLaurentis tried to put the engines into reverse thrust to slow down, to no avail. Still, he wasn’t afraid.

“It was kind of like I was along for the ride almost, because you can’t do a whole lot,” he said.

When the plane came to a halt, DeLaurentis stopped the fuel flow to the engines and shut down the electrical and hydraulics systems. Much to his surprise, he was completely uninjured, walking away from the plane without a hint of soreness.

Instead, he said, “it was as graceful a crash as could be possible,” he wrote in a text.

The pilot believes the malfunction was caused by ice getting into the engines. Both engines stopped working, and because each has its own separate fuel tank, he believes fuel wasn’t the issue.

While the plane could be fixed, he believes his time with Citizen of the World has reached its epilogue. The plane, which he has owned since 2017, always got him to the ground safely, accompanying him on a nine-month adventure around the globe.

This voyage is documented in the freshly-released documentary, “Peace Pilot.” Between 2019 and 2020, DeLaurentis and Citizen of the World completed a polar circumnavigation of the planet, collecting plastic particles in the air for the Scripps Institute of Oceanography.

After an examination of the airborne particles that stuck to the tape on the plane’s surface, it was discovered that there are more plastic microfibers in the poles than there are on the equator.

During this time, DeLaurentis also connected the only two peaceful places on Earth as part of a peace mission, hence the epithet “Peace Pilot.”

This adventure, as well as his equatorial circumnavigation trip where he suffered chemical burns due to a fuel leak in the cabin at an altitude of 14,000 feet, have mentally prepared him for worst-case scenarios.

“I think you have to be comfortable with your death if you’re a pilot doing some of these distant trips over remote parts of the planet,” he said.

After many delays, “Peace Pilot” was released during a time of intense political tensions. To DeLaurentis, it couldn’t have been better timing. And just before the documentary became available to audiences on Google, Amazon and iTunes, Citizen of the World decided to retire.

“The plane sort of completed its mission,” he said.

(Photo provided) Citizen of the World suffered a malfunction while approaching the Felts Field airport in Spokane. Pilot Robert DeLaurentis was uninjured.

(Photo provided) DeLaurentis’ 41-year-old Gulf Stream Turbine Commander 900, “Citizen of the World.”