Plane Crashes Into a Busy Motorway and Bursts Into Flames

A video has shown the dramatic moment a plane crashes into a busy motorway and erupts into a ball of flames but remarkably everyone has survived.

The aircraft, which appeared to be rapidly losing power, is seen levelling out slightly before hitting the ground and bursting into flames about 1,000 feet from a runway at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California.


According to The Sun UK, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the pilot declared an emergency shortly after taking off from John Wayne airport and was trying to return there when the plane crashed at about 9.30am local time.


Captain Larry Kurtz of the Orange County Fire Authority told KABC that the plane clipped a car on the freeway immediately before crashing, but the occupants of the vehicle were not hurt which he said was “truly remarkable”.

Kurtz said: “This could have been extraordinarily bad. Anytime you have a plane that crashes on the freeway, the potential for great loss of life and great injury always exists.” Kurtz also confirmed that two people who were on board the plane suffered traumatic injuries. The man and the woman who were in their 50s and 60s were taken to hospital in a helicopter.

In a recording of the mayday call, the pilot can be heard telling the control tower that he was trying “to get a little altitude”.

He added: “I’ve lost my right engine.” The freeway, the main north-south route through southern Orange County, was shut in both directions for about an hour before the northbound side and one southbound lane were reopened. Traffic remained backed up for miles in both directions some two hours after the incident.

Arrivals were halted at the airport for about 45 minutes after the crash, and officials there advised travellers to arrive several hours early for flights.

The plane was still on the freeway several hours after the crash and investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration and John Wayne Airport were said to be en route to the scene.

Watch the video below: