The pilot of a light aircraft pulled off an impressive emergency landing on a busy British road on Thursday, appearing to sustain little damage and causing no injuries after sliding down the central reservation (median).
The A-40 road near Cheltenham Gloucestershire was closed just two hours on Thursday after a light aircraft landed in rush-hour traffic after reportedly suffering an engine failure. The distinctively yellow single-prop fixed-wing aircraft appears to have come down on the central reservation and skated a certain distance along the metal crash barrier.
Whether the aircraft will ever be airworthy again has not yet been revealed, but besides crumpled nosewheel gear the plane suffered little obvious major damage in the unscheduled landing, all the more impressive given the aircraft came to rest just yards from an overbridge.
— Tom Wade (@tomjwadeCTFC) August 10, 2023
Local BBC news cites the remarks of the county police who say there were no injuries and the plane didn’t strike any other vehicles. The local airport said in their statement: “We are aware that a pilot has had to perform an emergency landing on the public highway due to a suspected engine failure. We are currently investigating to find out what happened and why.”
Emergency services responded to the incident and a Fire Brigade truck lifted the aircraft from the central reservation with a hydraulic arm, before it was pushed onto a layby (turnout). The road was reopened to the public in just two hours after the landing.
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