Plane Nearly Slams Into Truck A routine training flight turned into a terrifying fight for survival when a small plane lost power and came roaring down over traffic on a busy Florida interstate.

The flight instructor and student had taken off from Pensacola International Airport on Monday morning when their Piper PA-28 Cherokee suddenly suffered serious engine trouble.

Within minutes, the pilot realized the aircraft was not going to make it back to the airport.

“We do now have a burning oil smell in the cockpit,” the pilot told air traffic controllers as the crisis unfolded. “I don’t know if we’re going to make the airport. We are not making the airport, we’re going down on I-10.”

With few options left, the instructor aimed the plane toward Interstate 10, where cars and trucks were speeding along below.

Trucker Eric Jordan captured the heart-stopping moment on video as the aircraft descended just above his cab and appeared to narrowly miss both his truck and a highway sign.

Jordan said he noticed the plane’s shadow moving over his vehicle and immediately hit the brakes.

“If I wouldn’t have seen that shadow over my truck and slowed down, he would have been in the side of the cab,” Jordan recalled.

“As you saw in the video, it was a close call with the truck and the sign, but he landed. He kept it in control.”

Despite the frightening descent, the pilot managed to safely bring the plane down on the highway without striking any vehicles.

No one aboard the aircraft or on the ground was injured.

Jordan praised the instructor’s calm nerves and quick thinking, calling the landing nothing short of miraculous.

“Everyone was safe,” he said. “He was a really good pilot, he was a good instructor. It was a miracle that he landed the thing with no problem.”