A Cessna 172 sits on the eastbound 1-80 between Jeremy Ranch and Kimball Junction near Park City on Monday, Dec. 7, 2020. The small passenger plane was forced to make an emergency landing on the eastbound lanes of the freeway Saturday evening. (Photo credit: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — A pilot who made an emergency landing on I-80 Saturday night says he couldn’t have done so, safely, alone.
And he’s looking for the driver who helped keep the situation in Summit County from getting worse.
“We were almost to Park City at this point, when I saw that my oil pressure had gone to zero,” 28-year-old Jackson Walker told KSL TV.
Jackson and his passenger had taken off from Idaho Falls earlier Saturday. They planned to land in Provo.
But when the oil pressure dropped and the propeller went out and restarting the engine didn’t work, Jackson said he decided he had to land the Cessna 172.
He started flashing the plane’s lights, hoping to get someone’s attention on the ground.
And he did. Walker told KSL TV a driver began to swerve on the freeway to create some space for the emergency landing.
Walker was able to land the plane with no injuries to his passenger or himself, or anybody on the freeway.
He’d like to find the driver, Walker said, and thank him on behalf of his family and his passenger’s family.
“So grateful for people like that are aware when they’re driving,” Walker said.