Plane makes emergency landing on Forney highway

A small plane had to make an emergency landing on a Forney highway on Monday afternoon. Nobody was seriously hurt, but it did cause a bit of a scene.

FORNEY, Texas - A small plane had to make an emergency landing on a Forney highway on Monday afternoon.

The twin-engine Piper Aztec landed on Highway 80 in Forney, about 6 miles northeast of the Mesquite Metro Airport, around 2:45 p.m.

Nobody was seriously hurt, but it did cause a bit of a scene.

"I genuinely was shocked: said local Kali Huckeba. "I could not believe that something would happen like that on this busy of a highway."

It’s unclear what precisely led to the landing.

The plane is damaged, but the pilot is okay.

Image 1 of 4

▼

Mesquite Airport says the plane left there around 9:30 a.m. Monday. The plane was returning to the airport when it landed in a median on the highway.

"I was at the store when it was happening. A clean landing on the freeway," said local John Hicks. "He actually landed at a time when it was a lot of cars. It’s very busy. He was very lucky."

The aircraft is registered to Pacific Fleet Aviation LLC in Rochester, New York.

Small plane lands on Hwy. 80 in Forney

A pilot was forced to make an emergency landing Monday afternoon on a highway in Forney, east of Dallas. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

The FAA is investigating what led to the landing. The plane was placed on a flat-bed truck and removed five hours after the incident.

People in the area are grateful it was not worse than it was.

"Nine times out of 10, you’re sitting in traffic in Forney," Hicks said. "It could’ve been really bad."

The FAA hopes to have a preliminary report posted Tuesday.