Compared to the alternatives, the car-studded, windy road was the best option after the engine cut out.
Imagine flying in your single-engine private airplane and suddenly it sputters, losing power. Oh, and you've only got 100 hours of flight experience. And your father-in-law's in the cockpit, as well. Did we mention you're flying through the Great Smoky Mountains—emphasis on mountains, and their attendant tree-studded surrounds. And you realize your best possible landing zone is a curvy highway studded with moving cars.
This is a pretty sub-optimal situation. But Vincent Fraser made the most of it, which is why the GoPro video of his landing is getting so much attention, on Facebook, in mainstream news sources like, and from us. Any landing you can walk away from, sure, that's a good landing. Any landing in which the plane can dodge several cars and then, later, take off again from said highway is a very, very good landing.
As you can see in the video, the plane slowly overtakes two vehicles on its final approach—the landing speed of a plane like this isn't all that much different from the cruising speed of a car on a four-lane highway. After passing the gray sedan, in the middle of a curve, the plane manages to touch down. And, more importantly, slow down without drifting into the oncoming lane immediately, where a surely awestruck driver of a Jeep Wrangler with a couple of kayaks on it is approaching.
Slowing down the plane and keeping it in its lane proves difficult, and the plane eventually drifts over the center turn lane and towards several cars including a BMW and Ram pickup, which manage to brake and move to the shoulder to give the pilot more space. Eventually, Fraser makes it to the side of the road, stopping near an intersection, which is a few miles outside of Bryson City in North Carolina. Fraser was later able to take off from the highway., was a fuel delivery problem.
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