Megan Munce
Houston Chronicle
(TNS)
Jan. 22—No one was injured when a small plane made an emergency landing in northwest Houston, blocking lanes of the Grand Parkway at Cypress Rosehill Road Sunday afternoon.
Around 11:30 a.m., the pilot of a single-engine Beech M35 reported engine problems and made an emergency landing on to the highway, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. No one else was on board, the FAA said in a statement. The Harris County Sheriff's Office initially responded to the crash, Chief Tommy Diaz said on Twitter, but officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety have since taken over the scene, according to Senior Deputy Thomas Gilliland. The Harris County Hazardous Materials Response Team was also dispatched to clean up the scene, he said.
The aircraft clipped a trailer and hit a concrete barrier, according to the FAA, and it's possible it hit a power line as well, Gilliland added. After landing, the plane caught fire, but the pilot was able to climb out of the plane with no injuries, Gilliland said.
A photo shared by DPS on Twitter at 1:23 p.m. showed the plane was nose-down in the center of the road with extensive damage to its front half, though the fire had been put out. Traffic was still backed up as of 2:30 p.m., according to traffic camera photos.
Employees at the nearby Dan Jones International Airport and David Wayne Hooks Memorial Airport said they did not have any information suggesting the plane was either inbound or outbound of either airport.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, the FAA said in a statement.
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