Chaos ensued on Tuesday afternoon when a small airplane was forced to make an unexpected touchdown on I-84 in Morgan County, bringing the traffic to an abrupt halt. Sgt. Mike Alexander of the Utah Highway Patrol confirmed to KUTV that the aircraft, a single-engine plane, landed safely near the 100-mile marker at around 3:20 p.m., inadvertently blocking one lane of the interstate.
In an unforeseen twist of events that served as a stark reminder of the unpredictable nature of flight, the plane, which is believed, according to KSLTV, to have departed from Mountain Green, found itself earthbound on the westbound lanes. The Utah Department of Transportation quickly took to social media to announce the closure of the westbound I-84 near Stoddard, directing traffic onto Old Highway Road to circumvent the grounded aircraft.
Concerns about the well-being of the pilot followed suit, although no information on their condition was immediately made available. Additional troopers were called to the scene to manage the situation, as reported by the Utah Department of Transportation, to reopen the highway once the airplane was removed.
While the interstate has seen its fair share of obstructions, none have been quite as out of place as a fully-equipped airplane sitting on the asphalt. As obtained by KSL, Sgt. Alexander detailed how additional UHP troopers were dispatched to provide traffic control until the plane could be safely moved off the highway, an operation that would restore normalcy to an otherwise disrupted pattern of commute.
