'It's right in front of me': Emergency plane landing along highway caught on camera
It's not something you see every day — a small plane coasting on the highway.
However, that's exactly what one family witnessed on their drive home from visiting Santa Sunday afternoon.
Sean Leskanic and his family were driving along Interstate 376 in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Sunday when they noticed a plane getting lower and lower.
"I was watching this plane getting lower and lower and lower," Leskanic said. "The next thing I know, it's right in front of me, I go, I think this thing's landing right in front of me."
It was a dramatic landing that the family caught on camera.
According to first responders, the small single seat plane encountered some sort of engine trouble. The pilot knew he would not be able to make it back to the Beaver County Airport in time.
"He realized that he was losing power and he said, 'Well, I better find somewhere to land because nothing's working right now,'" Leskanic said.
Leskanic said he slowed down to give the plane some space to land. It rolled along the side of the highway before eventually rolling to a halt along the shoulder of the road.
"We pulled up alongside him first. We looked over and said to him, 'Are you OK?' And he goes, 'Yeah,' and then he said, 'Well, I guess I'm making the news tonight.'"
The pilot had to navigate power lines and traffic. However, miraculously, the roadway wasn't super busy at the time, Leskanic said. No one was injured in the incident that shut down the roadway for a brief time Sunday afternoon.
"He was pretty calm, no worries on his part," said Leskanic, who explained that the pilot was worried about being late for work and figuring out how he would get the plane back to the airport. The plane had to be loaded onto a special cargo tow truck and escorted back to the airport via Pennsylvania State Police.
"He's a good pilot," said Leskanic with a smile.