‘Just short of a miracle’: Plane makes safe landing on I-470 in Lee’s Summit, Missouri
A pilot was forced to land a small plane on a normally busy highway Tuesday afternoon in Lee’s Summit after it appeared one of the engines had failed, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol.
The plane landed about 2 p.m. in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 470 near the N.E. Colbern Road exit, about two miles southeast of the Lee’s Summit Municipal Airport. No injuries were reported.
Sgt. Andy Bell, a highway patrol spokesman, said a preliminary investigation showed that one of the plane’s twin engines failed during the pilot’s final approach to land at the municipal airport.
In an attempt at an emergency landing, Bell said, the pilot chose to touch down on the interstate.
“It was the closest readily available open space to safely land that aircraft, and thankfully he did land that safely,” Bell said.
No other vehicles were involved, Bell added, though the right wing of the aircraft clipped a traffic sign.
Traffic along I-470 is usually congested during the early afternoon, he said.
“For that plane to land safely and not cause a crash or collide into another vehicle is just short of a miracle,” Bell said.
Video footage provided by the Kansas City Scout traffic service showed the small aircraft stopped on the interstate soon after it landed. Lee’s Summit police responded to the scene.
The eastbound lanes of the interstate were shut down for over an hour before the aircraft was eventually towed from the highway.
The Federal Aviation Administration has been contacted and was responding to the scene to investigate, the highway patrol said.
This story was originally published May 19, 2020 at 4:13 PM.
