What began as a student's first flight lesson ended up being a maneuver that avoided a tragedy. A 21-year-old aviation instructor successfully performed an emergency landing of a small plane on a busy highway in Florida after the engine failed mid-flight, with no injuries reported.
Pilot Emily Shelton was conducting a training flight on Monday with a student aboard a Piper PA-28 Cherokee from Pensacola Air Flight School when she detected the smell of burnt oil in the cabin. Shortly after, she observed a drop in oil pressure, and the engine stopped functioning.
After declaring an emergency in air traffic control, Shelton made a critical decision: to descend over Interstate 10 (I-10) in Pensacola, reported CBS News.
The maneuver was recorded by the camera installed in the truck of Eric Jordan, a driver for Ecowaste Solution. The footage shows how the aircraft descends rapidly and passes beneath a metal signaling structure with only a few meters of clearance before landing among the vehicles on the highway.
According to CBS News, one of the truck drivers passing through the area stated that he was almost involved in a collision with the aircraft.
Despite the delicacy of the situation, the landing concluded without injuries to the instructor, her student, or the drivers on the road.
The Florida Highway Patrol confirmed that no vehicles were involved in the incident and that, after the aircraft was removed, the lanes were reopened a few hours later.
With around 1,300 flight hours, Shelton downplayed what had happened and credited the success of the maneuver to his training as a pilot.
"I feel that my training prepared me exceptionally well for this moment," he stated to WEAR News. "I have practiced this exact scenario many times."
The young woman has been acknowledged by U.S. media as the protagonist of a maneuver that likely prevented a potentially fatal accident.
Although infrequent, this type of emergency landing has been recorded in Florida. In December 2025, a small plane descended on Interstate 95 and ended up colliding with a car, leaving a woman with minor injuries. In 2022, another case made headlines worldwide when Darren Harrison, an inexperienced passenger, managed to land a plane after the pilot became incapacitated during the flight.
According to Univision, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched an investigation to determine the causes of the mechanical failure and to review the circumstances of the incident, as is customary following an emergency landing outside of an airport.
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