Bob CollinsA pilot is always looking down and asking him or herself, “If my engine quits, where am I going to land?”
Usually it’s a field, but sometimes it’s a highway, which then requires another question, “Can I land slowly enough that I don’t catch up to cars?”
David Gowan , 57, of Minot, N.D., piloting a Mooney airplane, picked a highway near the Hawley, Minn., airport this morning after the engine quit.
But his plane caught up to a car.
Hwy10 near Hawley: airplane vs car crash after airplane makes emergency landing https://t.co/N5q91ddv2G pic.twitter.com/gTxZW1K0S4
— Sgt. Jesse Grabow (@MSPPIO_NW) March 31, 2015
Those slash marks are a propeller work. It can’t be overstated how close the driver — Corey Ernst, 39, of Fargo — came to being killed.
Here’s the official report:
A single engine private plane took off from the Hawley airport heading west with Minot, ND being a destination. At about 1000 feet, the engine quit and the pilot had to turn and find an emergency landing spot.
Passenger in the plane along with the pilot located a clear spot on Highway 10 eastbound at MP 19. The plane made a successful emergency landing on Highway 10 eastbound. The Ford Fusion was eastbound on Highway 10 in front of the plane.
After the plane landed, it caught up to the Fusion. The driver noticed a plane behind her in her mirror as it was catching up to the car. The plane prop struck the rear of the driver’s side before she could drive into the ditch. No injuries were reported, and the plane was pushed off the roadway into a residential driveway.
The NTSB and FAA are investigating. The FAA inspector from Fargo is already on-scene. The State Patrol was assisted by Clay County Sheriff’s Department, Hawley Police Department, and the FAA.
Sometimes, it works out a little better as with this World War II-era plane that had to land on busy Highway 41 in Oshkosh, Wis., back in 2007.
The pilot in today’s incident didn’t have much time to make decisions, certainly not as much time as this pilot in Canada had in 2011.
By the way, you may be wondering why the prop was still turning enough to slash through a car if there was no engine running to turn it. The speed of the plane through the air allows the prop to “windmill” even if there’s no engine.
