Plane Makes Emergency Landing on Johnson County Roadway [PHOTOS]

Traffic tie-ups are nothing new on Iowa roadways. But one involving an airplane is certainly something you don't see every day!

It happened in Johnson County over the weekend as a small airplane that departed from the Iowa City Municipal Airport had to make an emergency landing at around 5:45 p.m. on Saturday. But that landing didn't happen in a wide-open Iowa farm field. It happened on Highway 218 at mile marker 94 according to the Johnson County Sheriff's Facebook page. According to a press release from the Johnson County Sheriff's Office, the sole occupant and pilot of the plane was John Ockenfels of Swisher, Iowa.

Ockenfels was not injured during the emergency landing. Sheriff's officials helped push the plane off the roadway and into a drainage ditch. The press release stated that the plane had run out of gas. Now this is where the story gets even stranger. As there was no damage to the aircraft, sheriff's officials helped the pilot gas up the plane, shut down the roadway for several minutes, and allowed the plane to use the road as a runway to take off!

It took less than a minute for the plane to go back up into the air and return to the Iowa City airport. The press release stated that the FAA was notified of the incident. An amazing incident when you consider that no vehicles were hit, the plane wasn't damaged and the pilot wasn't hurt! Maybe check the fuel gauge the next time you head out for a flight!

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