Plane makes emergency landing on Highway 101, hits three cars

A plane makes an emergency landing on Highway 101, hits three cars and amazingly nobody was hurt.

It happened at about 10:30 a.m. Sunday on the southbound side of Highway 101 near Turnpike and Patterson Roads in Santa Barbara.

Fire officials say there were two people in the Piper Comanche plane and five people in the cars.

One person from one of the vehicles was taken to the hospital as a precaution but was later released.

The California Highway Patrol says the plane was traveling from Temecula to the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport when it lost power.

Officers closed one lane of the highway but things were back up and running by noon.

The Piper Comache 260 carrying a married couple landed on the southbound lanes of U.S. Highway 101 just outside Santa Barbara and a few miles from the airport,

The plane's engine quit, and as the pilot descended, he lost control of the plane and landed in the southbound lane facing oncoming traffic. The plane struck two vehicles while landing, then spun and hit another one with its tail.

One vehicle passenger was treated for minor injuries, he said. No other injuries were reported.

The landing happened at 10:36 a.m. (1:36 p.m. ET) and held up traffic for less than two hours,

The pilot told authorities that he attempted to switch fuel lines during the flight, but was unable to restore power to the plane. He said he alerted a tower at the airport that a landing on the highway was imminent, Richardson said




Firefighters attend to a small plane that crashed on U.S. Highway 101 on Sunday. FAA spokesman Ian Gregor says the Piper PA-24 was bound for Santa Barbara Airport when it made an emergency landing on the southbound side of the freeway


Firefighters attend to a small plane that crashed on U.S. Highway 101 on Sunday. FAA spokesman Ian Gregor says the Piper PA-24 was bound for Santa Barbara Airport when it made an emergency landing on the southbound side of the freeway.






The pilot of this Piper Comanche ran out of gas and attempted a freeway landing when he was unable to reach the Santa Barbara Airport.


There were only minor injuries when a small plane made a crash landing on southbound Highway 101 south of Patterson Avenue on Sunday morning



The crash left the plane with major damage.



The accident scene, at left, reduced southbound Highway 101 to one lane while northbound traffic came to a standstill



A flatbed truck hauls the wrecked plane off the freeway on to Turnpike Road.

--------------



Nice landing no spark , no crash , even with nose wheel malfunctions.