A motorist certainly had the scare of his life when he was hit by a plane that crashed Tuesday morning on a highway in Minnesota.
Everything was normal on the road for the 32-year-old driver who was speeding on Highway 81, a busy road in Brooklyn Park, a suburb of Minneapolis, when his vehicle was suddenly struck by a Piper Archer II, a small propeller-driven aircraft, at 10:32 a.m.
Brooklyn Park Police said that despite the unusual nature of the collision, the driver suffered only minor injuries. He still had to be transported to a hospital.
The pilot of the Piper, a 23-year-old man, was treated on site for minor injuries.
“The pilot tried to make an emergency landing on Route 81. He touched electrical wires, before hitting the ground and colliding with the vehicle,” summarized the police.
The CBS television network broadcast communications between the Crystal Airport control tower and the pilot.
“Have you lost your engine,” the controller is heard asking the pilot. “I don’t think I have a motor. I will not go to the track,” replies the pilot calmly, despite the situation.
Controllers then asked aircraft flying in the area to wait before approaching the airport. It was one of these waiting pilots who informed the control tower that the Piper had finally crashed on the highway.
