Small plane makes emergency landing in Minnesota, grazes car

A small plane grazed a car while making an emergency landing in northwest Minnesota late Tuesday morning. No injuries were reported.

A single-engine private aircraft took off just before noon Tuesday from the Hawley Airport in Minnesota, according to state patrol. The plane’s intended destination was Minot, N.D.

The engine suddenly stopped working at about 1,000 feet, just after the pilot and his 33-year-old nephew John Roise had fueled up at the Hawley Airport. The pilot, 57-year-old David Gowan, turned the plane around to locate an emergency landing spot.

He did not have many options, so he aimed for the highway. He said he only had about 30 seconds to make his decision.

“I’m a thousand feet up, I’m going a hundred miles per hour, and I have no options,” Gowan said. He explained that the “first rule” is to search for a place to land.

The plane made a successful emergency landing on eastbound Highway 10. According to CBS News, a Ford Fusion belonging to the Clay County Health Department was traveling eastbound on Highway 10 in front of the plane.

Corey Ernst of Fargo, N.D., 39, was driving the car. A report stated that “the driver noticed a plane behind her in her mirror as it was catching up to the car.” But before she could drive into a ditch, the plane’s propeller hit the rear of the driver’s side.

The car suffered a significant amount of damage. However, Gowan said the plane suffered “minimal” damage. The aircraft, a 1979 Mooney 231 Turbo, was pushed from the highway to a residential driveway in the area while Gowan awaited necessary repairs.

Gowan, Roise and Ernst survived the situation completely unharmed. The Minnesota Highway Patrol and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the incident.

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