A small passenger plane made a landing on I-80 near Jeremy Ranch, Utah Highway Patrol officials reported Saturday.(Photo: Joe Davis)
SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah — A small passenger plane made a landing on I-80 near Jeremy Ranch, Utah Highway Patrol officials reported Saturday. The pilot, Jackson Walker, made a safe landing with no damage to the aircraft or injuries to him and his passenger.
The two passengers took off from Idaho Falls earlier Saturday, planning to land in Provo. However, Walker noticed his oil pressure drop to “completely zero” mid-flight causing his engine to cease.
“It ended up being a scenario you’d never want to have happen,” Walker said. “If your engine ever goes out, you want to make sure you’re over a highway or have some place to land.”
Walker said he tried restarting his engine “several times,” but it didn’t work. So, he flew over I-80 hoping to make it to another airport in Heber.
However, Walker said he soon realized he had to land the plane sooner than he thought.
PCFD BC 3, Engine 35 and ambulance 35 responded to a small airplane that made an emergency landing on I 80 Jeremy Ranch…
Posted by Park City Fire District on Saturday, December 5, 2020
Walker — who’s only been a private pilot since June — flashed his landing lights to alert oncoming cars he would be landing on the highway. A nearby driver noticed the plane coming down and alerted cars to slow down traffic.
“[The driver] said he was a pilot as well and saw me coming down and he started swerving to slow down traffic behind us that created more room,” Walker said.
As Walker touched ground, he said he tried to maintain the same speed as traffic until he could bring the plane to a stop.
After the landing, the two passengers pushed the plane off to the shoulder to no longer block traffic.