Plane lands on road in Spanaway, Washington

PILOT MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING ON BUSY WASHINGTON STATE ROAD

SPANAWAY, WASHINGTON – A pilot made a thrilling emergency landing Thursday morning on Pacific Avenue in Spanaway, due to a ‘fuel system malfunction.’ The road was quite busy at the time during morning rush hour in Spanaway, just outside Seattle. The emergency landing was captured on a Trooper’s dashcam. The pilot landed safely and managed to stop de plane just before the red light. No one was hurt.

Washington State Trooper Clint Thompson was driving along Pacific Avenue South – also known as State Route 7 – just south of Tacoma, near Seattle. The Trooper then saw a KR2 single propeller plane – which he first thought was a remote controlled plane – descending closer and closer to the roadway. He would soon realize that it was a real plane getting bigger and bigger and it was actually going to land on the road in a matter of seconds.

YouTube player
KING 5’s report on the remarkable emergency landing in Spanaway, WA on Thursday morning.
Video: KING 5 on YouTube

The Trooper immediately turned on his emergency lights to block traffic to help the pilot land the plane on the improvised runway. His patrol car’s dashcam captured the plane hitting the road and after the plane ‘drove’ pretty fast from left to right on the road it eventually came to stop at a red light, just like the cars.

It was quite a funny sight to see the Trooper knocking on the plane’s window, like he just pulled over the plane to give the pilot a ticket.

“Trooper Thompson just happened to be in the right place at the right time and witnessed the plane make an emergency landing,” Washington State Patrol spokeswoman Johnna Batiste said in a tweet.

The plane needed to make an earlier-than-scheduled pit stop “due to a fuel system malfunction,” Batiste added.

What a great job by the pilot and the Trooper!

“I would like to thank the trooper for what he did,” pilot David Acklam told KOMO. “He probably saved me from serious injury or death and somebody else from getting in a car crash with the plane.”

“It’s a good day to be alive,” Acklam said.

For those of you wondering; no, the pilot didn’t get a ticket from this friendly Trooper.

☆☆☆

(Image: from Washington State Patrol video)

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