Motorists driving along a Canadian highway were in for the surprise of their lives after a small plane was forced to make an emergency landing on the road due to mechanical trouble.
The plane was flying above Highway 40 when it experienced the trouble and was forced to make a landing near Jean Lesage International Airport. Witnesses could see black smoke pouring from the back just before the plane landed.
Despite the unusual situation, motorists continued to drive along as if this sort of thing happened every day. One car even overtook the plane before it came to a complete stop.
An eyewitness told CBC: “I was pretty surprised. First time I’ve ever seen a plane on a highway, except in the movies.”
A local fire department spokesperson confirmed that the plane landed safely and that the pilot was uninjured. Traffic was temporarily stopped to allow emergency crews to take the plane off the road.
Sergeant Helene Nepton of the provincial police told CTV News: “We received calls mentioning that an airplane was landing on westbound Highway 40.
“Fortunately, the aircraft landed without a collision, and then no one was injured. In fact, traffic was able to resume quickly in the area.”
Incredibly, this isn’t the first time a plane had to make a forced landing on a Canadian road.
Motorist Roberto Alexander Castillo was driving home from work last year with his boss in British Columbia when he witnessed a small plane landing after the loss of a fuel cap from one of its wings.
Castillo said: “My co-worker, who is also my boss, was driving and I saw the plane coming down on the highway. I told him, ‘Hey hey, look at that plane, man!’
“I was like, ‘Right in front of us, that plane is gonna crash!’ So he pulled over and we were like, ‘What are we gonna do?’ Because we saw a big truck coming up behind the plane and we thought they were going to collide.
“But they landed well, really well. At that moment I thought maybe they were filming a movie or something.”
According to reports, the plane was piloted by a flight instructor and had flown from Boundary Bay Airport with a student.
Peter Schlieck of the Canadian Flight Centre, the instructor’s boss, praised his employee for the “perfect” emergency landing.
He said: “He did a perfect job, no one was harmed and there wasn’t a scratch on the plane.”
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