A single-engine plane was forced to land on a San Diego freeway after its engine failed. (Photo: )
A small airplane casually landed on Interstate 8 in the Southern California city of El Cajon in San Diego County on Friday, sliding right into the flow of traffic.
California Highway Patrol Officers alerted officials at about 11:20 a.m. that a single-engine aircraft was experiencing troubles, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Zach and Keri Decker were on their way to the dentist on I-8 when they saw the plane flying close to the ground. As seen in their video, the aircraft landed cleanly between moving cars on the freeway without its wings hitting powerlines or the center divider.
After the potentially dangerous scene unfolded, the Deckers’ young child in the back seat says, “Watch out for the airplane!”
Keri Decker posted a video of the incident to Facebook on Friday. It has since garnered more than 1.5 million views.
“It was like magical, like the fact that he was able to maneuver around the cars and that the cars were smart enough to get away” from the plane, Keri Decker told NBC San Diego.
Ryan Muno, a 25-year-old flight instructor, was giving flying lessons to a 35-year-old student when the plane’s engine lost power on its descent into Gillespie Field Airport in El Cajon, the Union-Tribune reported.
Realizing they couldn’t make it to the airport, Muno took over the controls from the student and safely landed the plane on I-8′s westbound lanes.
Jim Anderson drove by the plane shortly after it landed, according to ABC 10News.
“The two gentlemen (in the cockpit) were talking to each other. They looked like they were catching their breath because they had just come to a stop,” he told the news station.
Muno is a former first baseman for San Diego State University who graduated in 2015. His mother, Kelly Muno, told the Union-Tribune that he became a pilot after injuries prevented him from playing professional baseball.
“I’m so proud of him,” she told the newspaper. “He’s on his way back home, and I just want to hold him and not let him go.”
The official opening of an airline passenger service between Boston and New York took place when the first two women to make the night trip alighted from the air mail plane in New York on April 5, 1927. The fare was $25 per person.
1935
Passengers sitting in their seats inside the cabin of a 21-passenger airplane making daily trips between New York City and Chicago circa 1935.
1939
Passengers boarding Pan American clipper ship at Port Washington, NY circa 1939.
1940s
Passengers, seated two to a row, talk with their inflight neighbors aboard a Mainliner Convair aircraft as the flight attendant works at the back of the plane in the late 1940s.
1949
Stewardess Jane Driscoll lights a cigar for airline passenger Carl Graulein, 68, of East St. Louis, as he prepares to depart for his native Germany aboard an American Airlines overseas flight on Nov. 10, 1949.
1947
A model poses walking off the Pan American Clipper 'Challenge' Lockheed 1049 airliner circa 1947.
1955
Passengers enjoy a relaxing smoke on a Transocean Air lines Boeing 377 Stratocruiser circa 1955.
1960
A family walking down airplane stairs.
1961
Passengers getting off of a tardy chartered plane on Oct. 1, 1961.
1974
Miami-bound passengers on National Airlines go through a baggage check.
1977
Passengers taking a bus to get to a connecting flights in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
1980
Passengers board an Aloha Airlines plane named after Hawaiian monarch 'Queen Liliuokalani' at Honolulu airport in Honolulu, Hawaii on Jan. 2, 1980.
1984
Just for special snow days, United Airlines now has signs and lines to handle passengers with cancelled flights. They had four lines going and about six agents handling the frustrated travelers on Nov. 12, 1984.
1994
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1995
Shuttle by United travels most frequently between San Francisco and Los Angeles on Sep. 7, 1995.
2001
Travelers stand in line at the United Airlines terminal at O''Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois on June 18, 2001.
2002
Passengers wait in line at the low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines ticket counter at Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Florida on Dec. 13, 2002.
2004
Passengers arrive at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Nov. 23, 2004 in Los Angeles, California.
2007
Northwest airlines passengers check in at Detroit Metropolitan Airport May 31, 2007 in Romulus, Michigan.
2011
Airline travellers stand in line to get to the United airlines ticketing counter at Newark Airport in Newark, New Jersey on Aug. 29, 2011.
2013
Passengers prepare to board their flight at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, IL on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013.
2013
Passengers aboard a US Airways flight take their baggage from the overhead bin as they depart the plane in Phoenix, AZ on Oct. 7, 2013.
2016
Passengers walk through the Delta Airlines Inc. terminal at LaGuardia Airport in the Queens borough of New York, U.S. on Monday, Aug. 8, 2016.
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