"most" light planes have a glide ratio of 8-10:1.... 1500' would be nearly 3 miles given a 10:1 ratio, well within safe gliding distance. Some have more, you can hear the wind change as he's coming in to land.. typical of slipping the plane a little to burn off excess altitude to make the landing zone... in fact, in the vid clip you can see he had plenty of landing opportunity prior to actual touchdown as well. Would definitely be a rush...... I love flying - way more than welding! Lucky