The key facts

  • A Cessna 172D made an emergency landing on a highway in North Fort Myers, clipping a pickup truck; no injuries were reported
  • Traffic was temporarily restricted to remove the aircraft; a commission is investigating the cause
  • According to WINK News, on August 29 an aircraft of the same model and with the same registration number had already made an emergency landing in Florida

Emergency landing on a highway

In North Fort Myers, Florida, a light Cessna 172D aircraft made an emergency landing on a busy highway. According to WINK News, the pilots encountered a technical malfunction in flight and chose the nearest highway for landing. While descending, the plane clipped the rear of a passing pickup truck, but then landed and merged into traffic. There were no injuries.

Repeat incident involving the same aircraft

After the landing, traffic on the highway was temporarily restricted so the plane could be removed; a special commission is investigating the cause of the incident. The TV channel also reported that on August 29, an aircraft of the same color, model, and with the same registration number had already made an emergency landing on Highway 98 in Florida — at that time, the cause was cited as an engine malfunction. The Experimental Aircraft Association called the repeated incidents involving this aircraft strange and concerning.

Context: other aviation incidents in Florida

Gazeta.Ru separately recalls two other cases in the region unrelated to this incident: in early November, a Learjet 60 crashed in a residential area of Palm Beach County, flying to the Bahamas from Austin-Bergstrom Airport — before disappearing from radar, it descended 8,200 meters in one minute. It was also previously reported about a plane that exploded in front of 2,000 spectators at an air show.