Vic Pisani feared the worst when the propeller in his single-engine aircraft stopped moving in mid-air.
He said he issued a mayday call and spoke to another pilot as his powerless craft "turned into a glider" that would have to come down south of Gympie.
"The guy in the other aeroplane was trying to find out exactly where it was and I wasn't in a position to find out where I was, 'cos I was trying to land this thing clear of trees," Mr Pisani said.
"I had to keep my eye on the airspeed, because one of the biggest dangers in doing an unexpected landing like this is you stall it in a turn and … it's a much more serious accident than just landing fast in rough ground."
Mr Pisani successfully lined up the landing in a paddock at Imbil in the Sunshine Coast hinterland on Monday at about 10am.
He was oblivious to the two builders working at an adjacent property who watched in disbelief as the plane went down.
Hurtling along the ground, the nose hit uneven ground and balanced "for about 10 seconds" before the plane flipped onto its back.
"So I had to undo my seatbelt upside down, opened the door … the door wasn't even damaged — it opened fine and [I] crawled out of the wreckage," Mr Pisani said.
Once out, he noticed oil on the underside of the aircraft.
"Something clearly catastrophic had happened to the engine," he said.
Mr Pisani said he was hugely relieved to have walked away from the "terrifying experience".
'Worse places to put down'
Hours after the crash, Mr Pisani said he had just purchased the aircraft in Gympie and was flying it back to New South Wales.
"There are worse places to put down and the outcome could have been a lot more serious," he said.
His family expressed gratitude on social media for those who raced to help.
"We are so grateful for the tradies who rushed to Vic's aid, the emergency personnel and everyone concerned with making sure he was OK," Amanda Pisani said.
"Thank you one and all from all the Pisani mob."
Mr Pisani said this was his first and "hopefully last" incident in more than three decades of flying and that he was uncertain about returning to the air.
"There's been some pressure from the family I suppose," he said.
The veteran pilot had recently completed a refresher training course and recommended private pilots regularly did their emergency drills.
He is now making his way back home to the Port Macquarie area via train.
Mr Pisani said Recreational Aviation Australia would investigate the cause of crash while he awaited an insurance assessment.
