Definitely an excellent landing!

[astir 8]

The pilot walked away and the aircraft looks re-usable!

Small plane lands in middle of highway in US - BBC News

[piperboy84]

That looks like the 101 between Santa Barbara and Ventura, slim pickings for landing areas, it's the very narrow beach, or the highway. Lucky folks

[Katamarino]

Listening to ATC, the emergency airplane informs us that "fuel indication is reading zero, we have a sputtering engine"...

The landing might have been good, but the fuel planning was apparently not the best.

[piperboy84]

Kata have you a link to the ATC?

[Katamarino]

http://archive-server.liveatc.net/kv...2016-0030Z.mp3

Mayday call starts a couple of minutes in.

[Gomrath]

It was on a busy section of the 23 freeway at around 4:45pm local time in Moorpark. This is a regular rat run from CMA to VNY.
It was not yet sunset and it was pretty risky (or rather stupid) of the instructor to land on a busy freeway when there is a golf course etc just a short distance away which would likely have been much safer at that time.
Had a member of the public driving on that freeway been injured, the outcome could have been pretty bad. Never put somebody on the ground in jeopardy.

[foxmoth]

Poor fuel monitoring, especially from an Instructor, even with a leak it should have been picked up before getting to this stage!

[chevvron]

Originally Posted by Gomrath

It was not yet sunset and it was pretty risky (or rather stupid) of the instructor to land on a busy freeway when there is a golf course etc just a short distance away which would likely have been much safer at that time.

Maybe he was a friend of Harrison Ford.

[Gomrath]

It made our local paper. The Director of Operations at Encore Flight Academy - quoted as saying...
"...The aircraft didn't have any damage or mechanical issues, rather the two just didn't check properly to see if they had enough fuel... The aircraft was found to be in perfect condition..."

I wonder if that instructor is still employed by them? The FAA might invite him in.

[piperboy84]

FAA might invite him in.

A tea but no biscuits type of chat ?

[rnzoli]

Ah, always nice to see a DA-20 Katana, even in unusual surroundings!
Flaps in LDG configuration.

I believe the nearby golf course is just not feasible due to the nible gears on this bird. The operator I rent from doesn't even allow them on grass airfields.

[alexbrett]

Listening to ATC, the emergency airplane informs us that "fuel indication is reading zero, we have a sputtering engine"...

The landing might have been good, but the fuel planning was apparently not the best.

To be fair, he might mean the fuel pressure indication was zero, as opposed to tank quantity...

[Jan Olieslagers]

due to the nible gears on this bird

What is "nible gears" ?

Whatever, I think I'd prefer (possibly) bent gears over (possibly) making victims among unsuspecting civilians on a busy public road.

[dobbin1]

Ah, always nice to see a DA-20 Katana, even in unusual surroundings!
Flaps in LDG configuration.

I believe the nearby golf course is just not feasible due to the nible gears on this bird. The operator I rent from doesn't even allow them on grass airfields.

We have operated DA20s (2 X A1 and 1 X C1) from grass for many years. I imagine that the fairway of a golf course is a lot smoother than the runways we use. It is true that the nose wheel strut is a weak point, but that is also true of most other training types. You just need to keep it in the air at touchdown.

[rnzoli]

Oh, I always knew the DA-20 is great chick magnet. But this... look at what kind of student pilot was in there!
Porn Star Crash Lands Plane on California Highway | Complex

What will people say now about GA students after this???