A twin-engine airplane stalled mid-air and made an emergency landing at the intersection of Harvey Mitchell Parkway and Raymond Stotzer Parkway Sunday afternoon.
The 1971-model Queen Air propeller airplane took off from Easterwood Airport about 1:50 p.m. When it reached an altitude of about 60 feet, its starboard engine stalled.
Pamela Hamm, a passenger aboard the plane, said there were nine people on board, all of whom had attended this weekend’s home football game against Notre Dame and were flying home to Odessa. No one was injured.
Pilot Maurice Smith said he was going to attempt to land the airplane on FM 2818, but did not have enough airspeed to get beyond the overpass where Raymond Stotzer Parkway meets FM 2818. He brought the plane down along the exit from FM 2818 instead.
“Unbelievable,” Hamm said. “He just knew what he was doing.”
Hamm said she saw when the engine stopped, but there was little time to react.
“Scott just said ‘get your seatbelts on,'” she said.
As the airplane descended, it clipped the top of a roadsign, and it skidded about 200 yards when it struck the ground. The portside propreller was still running and tore itself and part of the wing off.
University Police Director Bob Wiatt said the airplane landed on University-owned property, west of Research Park.
The Department of Public Safety was handling the investigation until investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration arrived.