A small aircraft crashed into the eastbound lane of a freeway in Corona, California, Tuesday afternoon, and a nearby dash cam captured footage of the incident.
What is being described as an “emergency landing” turned into a dangerous plane crash as the small aircraft appeared to skid, turn and burst into flames as it hit the freeway, as seen in the video shared by CBS Los Angeles.
The plane hit at least one car in the course of landing, but apparently neither the two passengers inside the aircraft, nor the three passengers inside the vehicle sustained any injuries, the New York Post reported.
“It’s amazing nobody else was injured,” witness Edward Pajardo told CBS. Pajardo was driving just in front of the plane as it made the landing, and shared the video of the highway filling up with black smoke.
A dashcam showed an attempted emergency landing turn into a fiery plane crash on the 91 Freeway. The two onboard the small plane were not harmed. For more click here: https://t.co/BZcS4E2LCn pic.twitter.com/g2IsYyoHiK
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) August 10, 2022
The pilot reportedly claimed the emergency landing occurred after the plane’s engine failed on course to Corona Municipal Airport. “[We’re] very fortunate today that the traffic was light, and the pilot appears to have made some good landing navigation that avoided what could have been a very bad tragedy,” California Highway Patrol Capt. Levi Miller told KTLA. (RELATED: Insane Images Show Passenger Plane After It Flipped Upside Down On The Runway)
Pilot Andrew Cho said he felt a “hard bump” and added the plane was “four to five feet in the air when [it] stalled completely and fell to the ground,” according to the outlet.
“Your training kicks in and you do the right thing. As long as you don’t panic, you get the best outcome,” Cho said of the incredible survival of him and his passenger, KTLA noted.