A small aircraft encountering engine difficulties made an emergency landing on a highway near a North Carolina airport, colliding with two vehicles, fortunately causing no injuries, authorities confirmed.
The single-engine Lancair 360, carrying only the pilot, touched down near Raleigh Executive Jetport at Sanford-Lee County Airport in Sanford around 4:20 p.m.
Thursday after experiencing engine problems, stated the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA will conduct an investigation.
According to FlightAware, which monitors flight activity, the aircraft was en route from Lynchburg, Virginia, to Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina.
The aircraft hit two SUVs as it landed on U.S. Route 1, but only one sustained minor damage and no injuries were reported, said Moncure Fire Department Chief Robert Shi in a statement Friday.
Shi explained that the pilot reported a propeller failure leading to engine failure, necessitating the emergency landing.
Due to the malfunction, the aircraft landed without deploying its landing gear, coming to rest on its belly.
Shi expressed gratitude that the incident only resulted in property damage, emphasizing the heavy traffic on US1 during the afternoon, noting that the outcome could have been far worse.
The North Carolina State Highway Patrol reported that of the two vehicles clipped by the aircraft, only one driver filed a report.
Chris Sealey told WRAL-TV that he witnessed a plane flying unusually low without landing gear, initially mistaking it for “a weird-looking car” from a few miles away.
“I mean, he was probably like 3 feet off the ground when I saw him, so I don’t think he had very long to go,” Sealey recounted.
“And, there was no big explosion or anything behind me, but you could tell like the traffic on both sides was kind of, you know, freaking out about it, but he had like a whole line of cars behind him."