Yes, that’s a regular plane with wings that you see crossing the road here, and no, it’s not in Russia, but in Irvine, California.
“Unusual airplane landing… nobody hurt” wrote the YouTube user CalicoStrike who filmed the small aircraft on September 18 through his dash-cam on Red Hill Avenue while waiting at the lights.
As it turns out, the Piper Cherokee aircraft was carrying an Orange Coast College (OCC) student and an instructor who was forced to make an emergency landing after the engine stopped during a touch and go exercise made to teach students how to take off and land an airplane, according to Daniel Schrader, OCC dean of Technology.
“The plane wasn’t high enough to be able to land back on the air strip it had just taken off from and was forced to land on the nearest open space,” Schrader told the Coast Report Online.
While the cause of the incident is still being investigated, Schrader speculated that “the engine simply got flooded or did not receive enough gas as the pilots changed the throttle”.