NBC 7s Jackie Crea explains how the plane ended up ion the middle of the freeway
Traffic was halted on Interstate 5 in Carlsbad Thursday night when a small plane made a hard landing on the freeway.
A single-engine Cessna 182 lost power and landed in southbound lanes of the I-5 around 7:15 p.m., a Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson said.
Two people, a man and a woman, were reported on board the airplane traveling from the San Gabriel Airport in Los Angeles to McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, Carlsbad Fire Division Chief Mike Lopez said. Neither were injured.
“They did a pretty good job landing this thing,” Lopez said. “The skill of that pilot, he did a stellar job.”
The hard landing closed all lanes of southbound I-5 at Tamarack Avenue for a half-hour before two lanes were reopened.
CHP was working to find a way to remove the plane from the freeway. Crews considered taking the plane apart to get it off the road, but by midnight, the plane was loaded onto a tow truck and was removed from the freeway.
Lopez said Air Traffic Control lost contact with the plane at around 5:05 p.m. The plane lost power, forcing the pilot to land on the freeway. The plane did not hit any vehicles.
Local
Carlsbad Police were working with the California Highway Patrol, FAA, and airport staff on the incident.
