Plane makes emergency landing in Florida’s Turnpike in Port St. Lucie

July 24th, 2009 by Ana X. Ceron

Federal aviation officials will be investigating the emergency landing of a small plane in open field just north of a Florida’s Turnpike service plaza this afternoon.

Florida Highway Patrol photo of the plane that landed at the St. Lucie Plaza on the Turnpike.

Florida Highway Patrol officials were alerted shortly before 2 p.m. that pilot Kenneth H. Smith, the single occupant of the single engine aircraft, landed at the north end of the Fort Pierce Service Plaza, located three miles north of the Port St. Lucie Boulevard exit.

Traffic wasn’t tied up because the site is a wide open field, FHP spokesman Jorge Delahoz said. The closest lane – on the northbound side – was roughly 50 yards away from the plane, he said.

Delahoz said the pilot told officials that his engine cut off on him.

Smith sustained a minor injury and was transported to St. Lucie Medical Center for treatment. No one else was hurt, according to FHP officials.

The plane did strike an unoccupied lawn maintenance trailer parked in the field just north of the plaza before it came to a final stop.

Tags: emergency landing, engine, Federal Aviation Administration, Florida Highway Patrol, investigation, Jorge Delahoz, Kenneth Smith

This entry was posted on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 4:01 pm and is filed under Stuart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Plane makes emergency landing in Florida’s Turnpike in Port St. Lucie”

1. Captain Nicholas Gravino Says:
   July 24th, 2009 at 8:24 pm

   A Pilot once said “Any landing that you can walk away from is a good landing”

2. Joe Wiley Says:
   July 25th, 2009 at 6:52 am

   When I was a kid, growing up in Stuart, I landed at the same place once (1957). The Turnpike only went as far north as Ft. Pierce then. I didn’t have engine problems or any other malfuntion, I was just 16 years old and we did those things then just for fun. I won’t say we (my brother and a couple of our friends) ever flew under the Turnpike bridge west of Stuart but you can be the judge. After 53 years and a lifetime career in aviation things have sure changed.

3. Joe Wiley Says:
   July 25th, 2009 at 9:12 am

   Captain Gravino:

   I’ve visited your website and understand you’ve written your memoirs as well. I would like to contact you as we seem to have a lot of similar life experiences to talk about. Can you email me at jwiley0541@aol.com?

   Joe Wiley
   Blairsville, GA

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