Plane in emergency landing on LA freeway

[Queenslander]

A LIGHT aircraft made a dramatic but safe emergency landing on a busy California freeway on Monday after being struck with engine trouble in mid-air, police said.

The plane touched down on the Golden State 5 freeway near Valencia, north of Los Angeles, avoiding an overpass and coming to rest of the hard shoulder, California Highway Patrol Officer Tariq Johnson said.
No-one was injured in the landing which took place after police closed the highway to traffic.

The road was then reopened to curious drivers, while the plane, which appeared to be undamaged, was towed to a nearby airport.

The circumstances of the emergency landing would be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, Mr Johnson said.

[IO540]

after being struck with engine trouble in mid-air

The worst place to get engine trouble must be in mid-air :O

[MichaelJP59]

Strange, really. Not so much landing on the freeway - but you'd think that if there was enough time between the engine failure and coming down to give the police the time to close a busy freeway that there would be enough time/height to allow a safer landing area!

[Chilli Monster]

There's a standing joke in the LA area - if you can't reach a runway without an engine from 3000ft you're doing something wrong ;)

[gjhome]

I heard the pilots conversation with his fellow airplane during the emergency, impressive. Sounded very calm and focused, big credits to that pilot!

[golfyankeesierra]

I heard the pilots conversation with his fellow airplane
And what did the plane say?;)

[rotorcraig]

From NBC 4 TV News (http://www.nbc4.tv/news/5080759/detail.html#)

Small Plane Makes Emergency Landing On 5 Freeway

http://images.ibsys.com/2005/1010/5080796_240X180.jpg

Plane Makes Emergency Landing On Freeway

POSTED: 1:12 pm PDT October 10, 2005
UPDATED: 7:29 pm PDT October 10, 2005

LOS ANGELES -- A small plane made an emergency landing Monday afternoon on the 5 Freeway.

The single-engine plane landed on the freeway near the McBean Parkway exit in Valencia. It landed on the side of the southbound freeway.

"We tried to get it restarted, but it wouldn't restart," said pilot Chad Wadsworth. "So, we just made an emergency landing."

Passenger Christian James said Wadsworth flew about 20 feet above the vehicles to let motorists know they planned to land the plane on the highway. He said motorists slowed and provided enough room to land.

"All of the sudden, I heard a plane just whiz over the top of my car," said motorist Victoria Sreden.

Wadsworth eased the plane to a stop on the side of the road.

Traffic was slow through the area, but the plane did not obstruct motorists. All lanes remained open.

No injuries were reported. The landing caused no traffic collisions.

"It appears the plane had some engine problems," said California Highway Patrol officer Tariq Johnson.

A pickup towed the Piper Comanche from the freeway.

[MichaelJP59]

Passenger Christian James said Wadsworth flew about 20 feet above the vehicles to let motorists know they planned to land the plane on the highway. He said motorists slowed and provided enough room to land.

I'm having difficulty visualising this - with no engine its hardly possible to fly at 20 feet for long as you rapidly slow to stall speed. Presumably he's going to land whether the motorists move or not!

Why do so many newspaper stories about aviation incidents fail to make any sort of logical sense?

[Pierre Argh]

Why do so many newspaper stories about aviation incidents fail to make any sort of logical sense? you could delete "about aviation incidents" and that'd still be true!

[capt.sparrow]

approaching at vref + 20kts, then levelling at 20ft to bleed off the speed makes logical sense to me. Would take a while in ground effect too. Plus with 'engine trouble' (not failed) - there could be residual power available to prolong a glide.....? Just thinking outside the box.

[dublinpilot]

Vref+20kts is likely to mean that he's overtaking the cars, so they won't see the aircraft until it is past them.

Even at Vref, it's likely to be overtaking most of the traffic. Therefore the cars that it will need to move out of the way, are the ones in front of it. They are unlikely to see it behind them.