Small plane hits two cars making emergency landing on North Carolina highway

A pilot survived after a small plane experienced engine problems and made a dramatic emergency landing on a North Carolina highway.

The single-engine Lancair 360 landed on its belly and skidded across US Route 1, clipping two cars around 4:20 p.m. on Thursday. No injuries were reported, officials said.

“I mean, he was probably like 3 feet off the ground when I saw him, so I don’t think he had very long to go,” Chris Sealey, who witnessed the crash, told WRAL-TV. “And, there was no big explosion or anything behind me, but you could tell like the traffic on both sides was kind of, you know, freaking out about it, but he had like a whole line of cars behind him.”

The plane was flying from Lynchburg, Virginia to Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina when it was forced to land near Raleigh Executive Jetport at Sanford-Lee County Airport in Sanford, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Only the pilot was aboard, the agency said.

Even though the plane grazed two SUV’s on the highway but suffered only minor damage and no injuries were reported,  Moncure Fire Department Chief Robert Shi said.

The pilot told officials he experienced a prop failure that led to an engine failure, Shi told Fox News. The plane landed on its belly, as the landing gear was not deployed.

“Moncure Fire is grateful this incident only involved property damage, Shi said. “US1 is heavily traveled each afternoon and this incident could have been much worse.

Of the two cars that were hit, only one driver filed a report, police said.