A new pilot with 100 hours of flight time under his belt successfully completed a harrowing landing on a busy North Carolina highway last month after his engine failed multiple times -- and it was all caught on the plane’s dash cam.
As novice pilot Vincent Fraser, 31, approached 5,500 feet of altitude, the engine of his 1967 Aero Commander 100 began to fail. Flying alongside his father-in-law, a passenger, Fraser’s engine restarted, but sputtered before ultimately failing again.
WATCH NOVICE PILOT EXECUTE FLAWLESS LANDING ON BUSY HIGHWAY
With no runways in sight, the former U.S. Marine prepared for the worst as he sought a clear place to land -- wary of civilians and power lines below. Fraser, who was issued his private pilot’s license in October of 2021, just 10 months earlier, braced his passenger for the worst.
He steered clear of trees and electrical wires as the aircraft descended upon a relatively busy stretch of highway. As the plane landed on the asphalt, Highway 74, Fraser swerved clear of cars before finally coming to a stop.
A diagnostics report later revealed that fuel from the wings stopped flowing to the engine, causing the failure.
Fraser remembers the ordeal quite clearly, acknowledging that his father-in-law initially thought it was a prank.
“He kind of just looked at me and kind of laughed because he thought I was messing with him,” Fraser told the Washington Post. “He was just in disbelief.”
“My objective was to get [my father-in-law] on the ground alive, not kill anybody,” he added. “And I did it.”
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