A potentially fatal plane crashed was avoided after a pilot landed his plane on a West Michigan Highway. Flight instructor Steven Chanter was in the air with a student pilot Thursday when he says the plane's engine began to sputter and the oil pressure dropped.
“It got real very fast,” Chanter said. “At that point it’s, are we going to the airport, or are we going to an off air landing,” he said.
The closet airport was in Sparta, which Chanter said he could see off to his left. However, that’s when the engine completely shut off.
“At that point it was a matter of, ‘well we have a pretty open stretch of road in front of us, that is where we are going to land,” Chanter.
That open stretch of road would be highway 37 and Chanter says, miraculously, he flew under traffic lights at an intersection, avoided hitting any cars, and landed the plane safely without any harm to either him or his student.
“My first reaction was thank you God for getting us down safely.”
His second reaction, shake uncontrollably for a few minutes before calling his wife and letting her know he was ok.
Still, Chanter says, the experience hasn’t ruined his love of flying. At the time of this interview, Chanter already was on his way to his next lesson, just 24 hours after what could have been a disaster. As for the student who survived with him, he couldn’t say.