Video shows small plane make emergency landing near Arlington apartments
ARLINGTON, Texas - A plane narrowly missed busy traffic, an apartment building, and businesses when it made an emergency landing on a street in Arlington Monday afternoon.
Video shows the moments right before the crash landing.
The single-engine Cessna 172 landed on Timberlake Drive near Park Row, which is not far from the Grand Prairie Municipal Airport.
There’s also a school about a block away from the crash site.
"The pilot reports that he had engine failure and decided to try to put it down in the safest place he could put it down and found this open area," said Arlington Fire Lt. Adam Evans. "This time a day with you see the civilian traffic, how many people are around here, apartment buildings, businesses. So hands down to the pilot for safely putting it on the ground where he did."
Two people were on board the plane. Arlington police both the pilot and the passenger exited the plane on their own and were not seriously injured.
"Unfortunately, caught a little bit of debris coming through a parking lot. But, fortunately, the pilot and passenger, there were no injuries," Evans said.
FOX 4 viewer Duane Trujillo shared video that shows the disabled plane making a rapid descent toward the parking lot.
The plane hits the pavement, slams into a fence, and keeps going. It comes to rest just a short distance away from an apartment building.
Veronica Gomez is the property manager at a storage facility right next to where the plane crash-landed. She heard the noise from the landing while inside.
"It actually went right over the buildings and into that fence. And I think the fence kept it from going all the way over to the other building," she said. "The 18-wheelers, they sit there to wait for their loads so there’s a lot of people in the parking lot right there."
The 1997 Cessna is owned by Aviator Air Flight School, which flies out of the Grand Prairie Municipal Airport.
FOX 4 reached out to the flight school. They said they had no comment.
The FAA and NTSB are investigating the incident.
The FAA will post a preliminary accident report online likely on Tuesday.