A small water plane made an emergency landing along a busy stretch of central Phoenix on April 12, startling drivers and pedestrians but leaving everyone aboard unharmed, authorities said.
When firefighters arrived, they found a small water‑style plane stopped in the roadway. All three people on board had safely exited the plane before crews arrived. None of those on board required hospitalization after being evaluated on scene, and no vehicles, structures, or bystanders were struck or injured.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement to NTD News that the plane was a Republic RC‑3 registered under tail number N6518K. The agency said the pilot made a “gear‑up” landing on a street in Phoenix around 3:25 p.m. local time and confirmed that three people were aboard. Because details remain preliminary, the FAA said it would conduct an inquiry into the incident.
Fire Captain DJ Lee told Phoenix based television station Arizona’s Family that the landing ruptured a water main but caused no damage to surrounding buildings or cars.
“They walked away from this crash, and no one else got hit. It was pretty much a miracle,” Lee said.
Witness Carol Sperr said that she couldn't believe what occurred, saying she was heading home when the plane passed just above her. “You’re shocked, thinking what’s going on. I was driving my wheelchair on the sidewalk, and I got to the German Auto, and I saw an airplane coming four feet above my head,” she told the news station.
Lee said the pilot, a veteran aviator with more than 40 years’ experience, told him he had been maneuvering to avoid power lines and searching for a clear place to land—which wound up being 7th Street.
“Luckily, it landed in a place where there’s nobody here, kind of in the middle of the desert between the landfill and the highway,” Lee said in an interview at that time with Arizona’s Family. “It’s kind of one of those things, when a plane’s going to crash, you don’t really have too much say in where it’s going to crash.
On April 7, a single‑engine Cessna T‑41B crashed into a home in Fort Mohave shortly after takeoff, and later that week, two people were killed when a plane burst into flames at Marana Regional Airport near Tucson.