For a brief moment on March 7, I-75 became a runway as an airplane crash landed in the median near East Holly Road in Springfield Township.
At approximately 4:20 p.m., the privately owned single-engine Piper aircraft was forced to land following engine problems.
The 45-year old pilot and a 37-year-old passenger, both from Coldwater, Ohio walked away from the crash nearly unscathed refusing medical treatment. A press release from the Michigan State Police states the men were flying from Salinas, Ohio to a small airport near Brighton. They were in the air for about one and a half hours before the engine failed.
‘They said they’d been lost for the last half hour,? said Springfield Township Fire Chief Charlie Oaks, who indicated the men were traveling to pickup a car purchased from an area dealer.
As stated in the press release, the man claimed he had approximately four hours of fuel left at the time his engine started faltering. He switched fuel tanks, but was unable to restart the engine.
‘His intentions were to come down on I-75, but it was a little off,? said Oaks, who responded to the scene. ‘They were definitely lucky people as far as I’m concerned.?
The plane suffered extensive damage, but no vehicles were involved in the incident.
‘It’s a wonder there wasn’t an accident the way people drive on I-75,? marveled Oaks.
Bob Apple, a Springfield Township Fire Department on-call captain and licensed recreational pilot, praised the pilot.
‘I thought he did a pretty good job. He could have done a better job by putting it on the freeway,? said Apple, who explained pilots are trained to look for flat landing surfaces like roads and fields for emergency landings.
Apple was unsure whether traffic forced the pilot into the median rather than the road.
The MSP press release stated the pilot lined up with the freeway and then put the aircraft into the median.
‘If it hadn’t been for the guardrail, he would have made it. Overall he walked away, which is what your taught to do by protecting the fuselage (where the pilot sits),? said Apple.
According to Oaks, a lane in north and southbound I-75 were closed initially to handle the response and cleanup. After an hour, the southbound lane was reopened, while the northbound lane was closed for the duration of the cleanup. Oaks said the Springfield Fire Department left the scene around 8:14 p.m. with only a little cleanup remaining.
As stated in the press release, the Springfield Township Fire Department responded to the scene along with the Groveland Township Fire Department, MSP from Groveland and Metro North, several Oakland County Sheriff’s deputies and an investigator from the FAA. Young’s Environmental cleaned up the hazardous material (consisting mostly of fuel) and Woody’s Towing removed the airplane taking it to the Oakland Airport.