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Small plane lands on Michigan highway after engine quits

Posted at 7:19 AM, Mar 08, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-08 07:19:14-05

ALPINE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A pilot safely landed a small plane on a highway in western Michigan after experiencing engine trouble.

Steven Chanter, a flight instructor, was in the air with a student pilot Thursday when the plane's engine began to sputter and the oil pressure dropped. He took over flying and was certain that the plane wouldn't make it to a small airport in nearby Sparta, so he landed on Michigan highway 37.

No one was injured and the plane wasn't damaged. The plane was hauled away on a flatbed truck.

"It's very intense and there's very little time to do very much," Chanter told WZZM. "We were only about a thousand feet off the ground. Everything happened in about less than a minute."