Disaster averted as pilot lands NJ plane on busy PA highway after engine trouble

🚨 Small plane from a New Jersey airport makes emergency landing on Route 78 in Pennsylvania

🚨 Pilot from Michigan landed the plane on the right shoulder

🚨 Highway closed for hours as crews removed aircraft

WEISENBERG TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A plane that left a New Jersey airport made an emergency landing on I-78 in Pennsylvania Saturday morning.

The Commander 114B plane that took off from Soleberg Airport in Readington flew low over the interstate around 9:20 a.m. after developing an engine problem, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

The 65-year-old pilot from Michigan tried to make it to an airport but instead brought the plane to a stop on the right-hand shoulder, west of Allentown in Weisenberg Township.

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FAA records reveal aircraft details

Neither the pilot nor his passenger, a 34-year-old New Jersey woman, was injured during the landing. They were headed to Indiana.

The weather at the time was sunny, around 60 degrees, with a light wind, according to New Jersey 101.5 Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow.

Eastbound traffic was detoured off the interstate for several hours as the plane was lifted by a tow truck onto a flatbed.

Records from the Federal Aviation Administration show the plane was built in 1995. The owner of the plane has requested that their identity be kept private. The FAA is investigating.

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