Skyhawk Lands In Rush Hour Traffic

Commuters driving home from work in Huntsville, AL Wednesday received quite a shock when a Cessna 172 landed on a busy street during afternoon rush hour.

According to media reports, pilot Robert Conklin barely cleared an overpass before initially setting the powerless plane onto a grass median. Conklin then straightened the aircraft out and guided the plane onto the road, missing all traffic on the street and causing no damage to the airplane. Conklin suspects that water in the fuel caused the engine to quit.

Commuter Matt Bolling, who was driving home from his job at nearby Redstone Arsenal, witnessed the emergency landing up close as he saw the stricken Skyhawk land “right in front of me,” according to the Huntsville Times. “Missed me by 15 feet.”

Conklin and his passenger, David Stokes, emerged from the plane with no injuries. The two men were on a demo flight in the aircraft, with Conklin demonstrating the airplane to Stokes on behalf of the airplane's owner.

Bolling, who took flying lessons in the 1980s, called Conklin’s efforts “the best landing I’ve ever seen. One, [Conklin] was dead stick. Two, he had all the traffic to contend with, and three, it was like threading a needle to get over that overpass.”

The incident was reported to the NTSB before the Skyhawk was loaded onto a wrecker and taken to a hangar at Redstone Airfield, where the flight had originated. No word yet if Stokes is still interested in the Cessna.

FMI: FAA Preliminary Report