A small Aztec Airways plane made an emergency landing on U.S. 27 Tuesday after both of its engines were inadvertently turned off during a training mission, authorities said.
Two men, a pilot and a student pilot, were aboard. The pilot said they were practicing different emergency scenarios and he went to turn off one of the engines, but accidentally turned off both of them, Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Dennis Roberts said.
"Luckily they were able to glide down onto U.S. 27 and make a safe landing," Roberts said.
The Beech E18S landed in the southbound lanes of U.S. 27, about 5 miles north of I-75. There were no injuries, authorities said.
"Nobody was hurt, everything is fine, the airplane was undamaged," said the student pilot, who didn't want to give his name.
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The plane, which has a tail number of N737SW, took off from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport at 7:17 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Aztec Airways is a passenger and cargo charter service out of Fort Lauderdale.
After the plane landed it rolled into the median. The pilot wanted to use the roadway as a runway to take off, but troopers told him he couldn't do that, so a short time later he fired up both engines and taxiied the aircraft over to a nearby boat ramp, Roberts said.
"Very lucky they picked the right time of night tonight, and I guess the only thing out here are the mosquitoes and us right now," Roberts said.
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Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue units also responded to the scene.
This is the second small plane to make an emergency landing on U.S. 27 in recent weeks. One landed on the highway just south of Griffin Road on March 17.
Photo Credit: Steve Litz/NBC 6 South Florida