A small plane made an emergency landing Monday afternoon on Interstate 15 in San Diego, the California Highway Patrol said.
Video obtained by NBC 7 San Diego shows the aircraft touching down around 4:45 p.m. in the highway’s northbound lanes just north of the Tierrasanta Boulevard exit. The plane avoided hitting any vehicles, authorities reportedly said. (RELATED: Several Oceanfront Houses Collapse As Multiple Hurricanes Roar In Atlantic: REPORT)
“It’s not every day you see a plane on the freeway, so I took a picture,” Leila Rezai, who filmed the landing, told the outlet.
The plane, a six-seat Cessna T206 built in 2005, carried two men who were not injured, the outlet reported. Records show the aircraft’s tail number is registered to Tellum Aviation Services, an Encinitas-based rental company.
The aircraft departed Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport at about 3:50 p.m. Monday, according to FlightAware. Roughly an hour later, the pilot issued a distress call, ABC 10 News reported, citing LiveATC.net.
“Mayday! Mayday! 57-Lima Bravo. Lost engine on left base,” the pilot said over the radio, according to the outlet.
Controllers attempted to clear a runway for an emergency landing, but the pilot indicated he was unable to restart the engine, ABC 10 News reported.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating the incident, NBC 7 San Diego reported. It was the fourth plane crash in the region since May, according to ABC 10 News.