Traffic plane lands on NJ Turnpike snarling traffic
Oh the irony!
A single-engine Cessna aircraft belonging to KYW Newsradio 1060 in Philadelphia made an emergency landing on the NJ Turnpike in Cherry Hill.
Small plane lands on turnpike in Cherry Hill
Peter Mucha | Feb. 1, 2010 | Inquirer Staff Writer
About 6:45 this morning, a small plane, monitoring traffic for local radio and TV stations, made an emergency landing on the New Jersey Turnpike in Cherry Hill.
The Cessna landed safely, and no one was hurt, according to state police in Moorestown.
It landed on the northbound side, about two miles south of Interchange 4, off Route 73. One lane of traffic was getting by as of shortly after 7 a.m., but traffic backed up for miles.
Shortly after 7:30 a.m., the plane was loaded onto the large flatbed of a tow truck and hauled away.
“It was up flying traffic surveillance for us,” said Charlie Yeirauch, regional director for Metro Networks Westwood One, which provides reports to about 30 local radio and TV stations.
Traffic reporter / spotter Mike Lankford was on board, but was not the pilot, Yeirauch said.
The plane took off from Northeast Airport around 6 a.m., and was over the Route 42-Route 55 area in South Jersey when the engine started sputtering the losing power, according to Steven Russell, president of Out of the Blue Inc., which operates the plane every day for Metro.
The pilot told Fox29 the engine lost oil pressure, and oil was visibly leaking from the plane as it was being inspected in a turnpike maintenance yard.
He said he was losing altitude too quickly to make it to another airfield, and had to glide to a landing on the highway.