KAILUA-KONA — Waikoloa Road between Queen Kaahumanu Highway and Waikoloa Village reopened after crews removed a small aircraft that made an emergency landing Wednesday.
The highway was closed for about an hour.
The aircraft made an emergency landing on the road about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. Police said no injuries were reported after the single-engine Cessna 206 Stationair, owned by William Aerial &Mapping, made an emergency landing near mile marker 4 after losing power.
Mike Hillestad was driving to work when he noticed the plane flying low, appearing as though it were ready to land. The craft’s shadow covered his car as he headed south with his 5-year-old daughter.
“The shadow was so big, I knew something was going on,” he said.
He watched as the plane landed on clear roadway ahead of him. Then the craft’s wing clipped a road sign and pulled the airplane down what Hillestad estimated was a 25-foot embankment.
Hillestad said he and about 20 other people pulled over and helped the young pilot, described as in his 30s, and the passenger, described as in his 20s, out of the aircraft.
“To be honest, they were pretty speechless, they were in shock,” Hillestad said about the occupants.
The pilot and co-pilot were the only occupants of the plane and were uninjured, according to police.
The Federal Aviation Administration in Honolulu said it received word of the incident but couldn’t comment Tuesday.
Eric Gomez of William Aerial &Mapping said he couldn’t provide any additional details about the incident as he was waiting to get in touch with the pilots.
