Plane Crashes Nose-down on Maine Highway

A small Cessna plane crashed and ended up nose-down on a Maine interstate on Tuesday. No serious injuries were reported either from the plane or the cars on the ground.

Police photographed the unusual landing of the 1947 Cessna 140.

The pilot, John Gayley, was able to walk away from the crash sustaining only minor facial injuries. His passenger, brother-in-law Rodney Voisene, had a minor arm injury. Both were taken to the hospital following the crash, according to Associated Press.

The plane had not been in the air for long leading up to the crash. Gayley had taken off from nearby Bowdoinham airfield. When he attempted to switch fuel tanks, the engine in his aircraft failed. The plane made an emergency landing on Maine’s Interstate 295 before it crashed into a guardrail and landed nose-down at about 10:15 a.m.

The only incident reported on the ground was one car driving on the highway that had to swerve to avoid the crashing plane.

Some drivers on the highway stopped their cars in order to help Gayley and Voisene exit the crashed aircraft.

“Fuel was leaking everywhere,” Lee Gosselin Jr., one of the witnesses, told CentralMaine.com. “The pilot told the passenger to turn the fuel off.” Voisene was able to turn the aircraft off and both pilot and passenger exited.

Traffic was not affected by the unusual landing and the plane was cleared away from the highway later that day. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.