Plane Lands Between Moving Cars On Highway

A pilot took decisive action by landing his aircraft on a busy highway on Monday evening, after he realised that his plane was going to run out of fuel five miles before it reached its nearest airport.

Eric Klein was planning to land at Hickory, North Carolina, at around 11pm on Monday when he spotted that his plane was dangerously low on fuel, so he took this unprecedented step instead.

After considering parking his plane in a car park, before realising that it was full of people, Klein was able to use the car’s lights to guide him onto the U.S. 321. He then managed to lower his plane in between two moving vehicles on the highway as they traveled northwards.

Miraculously no one was injured in the ordeal, but the two drivers, who were stunned to see a plane appear beside them, quickly stopped and then exited their cars to check on Klein’s state.

One of the drivers, Joe Greene, told WSOCTV, “I just didn’t know what it was. I could see these lights lashing and he was right up on my bumper. Then I began to pull away, so I turned [the car around], went back and realized it was a plane that had landed right behind me.”

Gerald Cole, the other driver in the incident, revealed that it was his wife who spotted the plane first, and she soon started yelling, “What is that? What is that?” Mr Cole immediately recognised it as a plane and admitted that he slowed down his car to let the aircraft pull in, adding, “He was weaving back and forth somewhat, but he finally put it down right in the middle of the road.”

Klein was flying home from West Virginia when he realised he only had two hours and ten minutes worth of fuel rather than three hours. Despite the fact that he landed the plane without incident, he apologised profusely for his actions.

[Image via WSOCTV]