Pilot describes making emergency landing on Western North Carolina highway
By GABRIELLE KOMOROWSKI
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SWAIN COUNTY, North Carolina (WYFF) — We are hearing from the pilot who made an emergency landing on a Western North Carolina highway as cars were zipping by.
Go Pro video taken from the wing of the private plane shows the pilot, Vincent Fraser, of Cape Coral, Florida, safely guiding the plane off Highway 74 in Swain County, North Carolina.
The incident happened on July 3. There were no injuries.
Fraser told WYFF4 that he was in the area for a family trip and was in the private plane with his father-in-law traveling from the Bryson City area to Macon County, North Carolina, Fraser said he noticed the plane wasn’t flying properly.
He said he thought he was going to have to land on a bridge or in water, but then he saw the road. He said he then told his father-in-law that he loves him.
“He looked at me really calmly and he said that he loves me and that he trusts me to get us down safely and alive. So from there on out, we didn’t even talk anymore,” Fraser said.
Fraser said his training from being in the Marine Corps kicked in.
“You kind of go into a robotic mode. You don’t question anything, you just do it,” Fraser said.
Fraser said once the plane had stopped, people helped him push the plane to a side road to get it safely out of the way. Fraser said he is so grateful for the kindness that people in the area showed him, and he is thankful no one was hurt.
“It could have been very bad, it could have been very disastrous. If I would have hit a power line, if I would hit a car, it could have been horrible,” Fraser said.
Fraser said the issue is that the plane had stopped pulling fuel. He said the plane is still being worked on in North Carolina and he expects to pick it up soon.
Fraser is going to keep flying. He currently works as a flight attendant for Allegiant Airlines, and he said he is working to become a commercial airline pilot.
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