Two hurt after plane makes fiery emergency landing on North Carolina highway

‘Looks like, honestly, with our best glide, we’re probably not going to make it,’ person on plane tells air traffic control

Two people were hurt after a small plane made a crash landing on a North Carolina highway before catching fire.

The incident took place on Interstate 26 south of Asheville on Thursday evening.

The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office has said that two people were taken to hospital after the plane went into flames in the vicinity of Asheville Regional Airport, according to WLOS.

An airport spokesperson said the people on the plane reported having issues and asked for help before landing on the interstate. The airport sent a firetruck to the scene. Also present were Skyland Fire and Rescue, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, the Asheville Police Department, as well as the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office.

Officials with the North Carolina Department of Transportation said at around 7am on Friday that the roads would be back open by 8.30am.

Missing the detour exit on Thursday night, dozens of drivers were stuck in traffic for hours. Crews affiliated with the North Carolina Department of Transportation eventually started turning vehicles around at the end of the queue to get them off the highway.

WLOS reported that the Sheriff’s Office said that the plane hit power lines and that a number of places, including the newsroom, experienced power surges and outages.

By 11pm on Thursday, power had been restored to 3,300 customers, according to the Duke Energy Power Outage Map.

Those on the plane reported having problems with oil pressure and two ECU failures, according to LiveATC.Net, which provides air traffic control broadcasts.

“We’re losing all engine power,” the plane’s operators said. “Looks like, honestly, with our best glide, we’re probably not going to make it.”

After getting the engine restarted, they said: “We just heard a big bang, though, so we may lose it again here.”

They later said they were at half power and they reported smoke in the cockpit.

“Aircraft is about four miles from the field. They managed to get their engine back up. They’re at half-power. Two souls on board, 30 gallons of fuel,” the air traffic controller said.

“We’re hearing from the radar room the pilot’s going to try to land on I-26. He’s not able to get his engine back up,” they added. “Aircraft currently on fire.”

“Plane is on the ground and the two passengers made it out before it caught on fire,” the controller added.

In addition to the power lines that crossed I-26, the North Carolina Highway State Patrol revealed that one of the plane wings struck a tractor-trailer. While the truck was damaged, the driver was unharmed.

Those on the plane were transported to Mission Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.