Plane Lands Safely on Freeway

The pilot who made an emergency landing on the Harbor Freeway at the height of evening rush hour Monday credited commuters with avoiding a collision with him.

“I really have to thank the motorists on the 110 Freeway,” said pilot Joe Gallegos, 23, of Fountain Valley. “They all slowed down. They did great. No one came close to hitting me.”

Gallegos, who flies for Skyads, an aerial advertising company, said he was over Staples Center, towing a banner behind the single-engine 1947 Stinson plane, when his engine began to lose power at 5:07 p.m.

“I was trying to restore power but nothing worked,” he said. “I was flying in formation with my boss, Bob Scott. He helped me find that spot. You realize you’re going down, and you only have a couple of seconds to decide what to do. He guided me.”

Flying south, Gallegos landed in the northbound carpool lanes just south of Exposition Boulevard, snarling traffic but causing no injuries.

“I wasn’t hurt at all,” he said. “Paramedics checked me out at the scene and released me. About all that happened to the plane was a flat tire.”

California Highway Patrol officers stopped traffic shortly after 6:30 p.m. as Los Angeles city firefighters pushed the plane across the freeway and down the Exposition/37th Street exit ramp to a parking lot in the 3600 block of Hope Street.

“That pilot did a fantastic job not hitting anybody,” said Jerry Prince, who owns Aircraft Recovery Services in Compton, a company that specializes in towing aircraft.

“Anybody who can land an airplane on the freeway in Los Angeles in rush hour and not hit anybody did a fantastic job,” he said.

Truck driver Tim Hooker said the pilot “should get an award,” adding that drivers did everything they could “to get away from him.”

Gallegos, who has been flying for three years, appeared to be unfazed by his emergency landing.

“I’m going to fly tomorrow,” he said.