Watch | US pilot makes emergency landing on highway amid traffic as engine fails

Vincent Fraser, the pilot, had only recently acquired his licence and was flying a single-engine aircraft with his father-in-law when the incident happened.

An American pilot had a narrow escape from a major disaster after he managed to make an emergency landing on the highway amid vehicular traffic in North Carolina because the engine had started to fail. The landing, a video of which is doing the rounds on social media, was filmed on the pilot's GoPro camera.

Plane makes emergency landing on highway in North Carolina, US.  (Twitter)

The incident happened on July 3. Vincent Fraser, the pilot, was flying a single-engine aircraft from Fontana Lake in Swain County with his father-in-law. But then his engine started to fail.

The footage of the emergency landing was shared by the Swain County Sheriff's Office on Facebook. The footage is from the pilot's point of view from the cockpit of the plane.

Sheriff Curtis Cochran, as signed on the Facebook post, shared the video saying Fraser did an “OUTSTANDING job and no injuries”. He said the pilot barely avoided some of the power lines. “There were so many things that could have been catastrophic but they didn't happen,” the sheriff wrote.

Fraser had acquired his pilot's licence in the fall last year. A Marine veteran from Florida, he has less than 100 hours of air experience.

A similar incident happened in Minnesota, US, in December, 2020. Commuters on the highway were greeted with a surreal sight when a plane landed on the road in the midst of traffic.

The video of the incident made its way onto Twitter and left most surprised. It showed a small plane hovering above the street and eventually landing on the highway. Thankfully, safely and without causing any harm.