Two people are lucky to be alive after their plane crash-landed on an interstate highway in Florida.
Photos of the scene showed the blue-and-white plane, upside-down and in pieces, in some brush next to I-95 in Flagler County. Miraculously, authorities say no one was seriously hurt.
“The #FCSO is assisting at the scene of a single-engine plane crash on I-95 north,” the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook. “The occupants sustained minor injuries and two lanes on 95 northbound will be re-opening shortly.”
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the plane was in the air around 1pm on Monday when for some reason it lost power. The pilot tried to make an emergency landing on I-95, but as the plane touched down it crashed into an oncoming truck.
“The aircraft lost power and the pilot was attempting an emergency landing on the northbound lanes of I-95,” the FHP told WESH. “As the pilot was attempting this maneuver, the aircraft’s wing collided with the tractor trailer combination and was redirected into the tree line.”
Either during the crash or as it skidded into the trees, the plane flipped over and lost a chunk of its wing. Incredibly, the two people inside were not badly injured and managed to climb out on their own.
According to WFTV, the pilot and co-pilot were two men from Port Orange, aged 57 and 34. The plane, the station said, was a 1949 Cessna 195.
The FHP says the plane took off somewhere near New Smyrna Beach and was headed toward Flagler Airport before it crashed.
On Facebook, users who read the Sheriff’s Office’s announcement were astonished that no one was killed.
“That plane probably can’t even fly as fast as the traffic goes on I-95,” one reader commented.
