A residential street in Arizona became an accidental runway for a small plane on Wednesday.
At around 8 a.m. that morning, a small aircraft made a “mayday” call to the control tower at Deer Valley Airport in Phoenix, NBC News-affiliate 12News reported.
Around 15 minutes later, ABC15 says, the same aircraft made an emergency descent, crashing into cars before landing abruptly in a used car lot.
Shortly thereafter, emergency vehicles responded to the harrowing incident, which was caught in full on a surveillance camera from Copper State Metals, a nearby business.
In surveillance footage obtained by 12News, the plane can be seen approaching the lot, taking out a street sign and causing a power line to spark before hitting the ground.
Both the pilot and the single passenger walked away unscathed, although the passenger was taken to the hospital for evaluation.
NBC confirmed that the pilot, 48, is a flight instructor. It’s unclear whether his 42-year-old passenger was a student.
The man who was at the controls is counting his lucky stars.
“I’m just glad to be alive,” he said.
“Just looking at the scene itself,” Phoenix police Sgt. Mercedes Fortune added, “I can tell you it’s an incredible landing.”
Jennifer Wood, a part owner at the used car lot, said at least six vehicles were struck during the unintentional landing.
“The right wing of the plane hit a car and tipped it on its side,” Wood said. “There’s damage to 10 different cars and pieces of the plane all over the lot.”
Wood said she thinks about air traffic on the daily, given how close the shop is to one of the city’s airports.
“I can hear the planes constantly coming in and out of the airport,” she said.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
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