A small plane crashed on a Southern California freeway Tuesday, crashing into a truck before breaking up and bursting into flames.
Dramatic video showed the moment the Piper PA-32 single-engine plane descended from the sky into the eastbound lanes of the 91 Freeway near Lincoln Avenue in Corona. around 12:30 local time.
The plane appeared to bounce off the roadway after impact and burst into flames, releasing plumes of thick black smoke.
Two people on the plane were able to safely leave the wreckage, the Corona Fire Department said Three people traveling in the truck hit by the plane were also uninjured. NBC Los Angeles reported
Video captured firefighters with the Corona Fire Department dousing the burning plane with water.
A CHP officer walks past the burned wreckage of a small plane that crashed on the 91 Freeway in Corona, California on August 9, 2022. Watchara Phomicinda / AP
The pilot, Andrew Cho, said he took off from nearby Corona Municipal Airport for a short trip earlier in the day. When he returned to the airport, his plane suddenly lost power and he had to find a place on the freeway to put the plane down.
“My biggest fear was hitting other cars,” he said NBC Los Angeles. “I saw enough of a gap there and I just headed for the gap.”
Cho managed to avoid most of the cars on the freeway.
Armando Ramírez’s Toyota Tundra was not one of them. He told the station he was on his way to visit family members when he heard the plane hit his truck. Ramirez said he was thankful he wasn’t killed.
Witness Jerry Saika saw the moment the plane went down and ran to help at the scene.
“All I know is he fell, I just ran out of my car to make sure he was OK,” he said.
California Highway Patrol Capt. Levi Miller praised the safe landing, noting the pilot helped prevent a “bad situation” potentially involving multiple vehicles.
“Today, absolutely very fortunate, the traffic was light and the pilot appears to have made a good landing navigation and avoided a very bad tragedy,” he said.
NBC News has reached out to the California Highway Patrol for more information on the incident, which is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration.
