Pilot pulls off ‘textbook emergency landing’ on Minnesota highway
Shocking footage shows the landing in the middle lane of the highway ahead of two vehicles.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An award-winning pilot pulled off a “textbook emergency landing” on a Minnesota interstate Wednesday night.
Nobody was injured when Craig Gifford, 52, a member of the US aerobatics flying team, struck a vehicle after landing the single-engine Bellanca Viking plane on the highway outside in a suburb of St. Paul.
Shocking footage released by the Minnesota Department of Transportation shows the plane, with two people on board, landing in the middle lane of the highway ahead of two vehicles, Fox 9 reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In 2017 and 2019, Gifford flew for the US Unlimited Aerobatic team in international competitions, according to Experimental Aircraft Association spokesman Dick Knapinski.
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Aerobatics flying entails pulling off precision maneuvers.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Knapinski said that Gifford’s training helped him execute a “textbook emergency landing” on Wednesday night.
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“Pilots are trained to deal with emergency engine problems and things like that if you have to make an emergency landing, and so the combination of that training and certainly (Gifford’s) aerobatic training really paid off in this situation,” he said.
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