Metro-East News

Airplane crash lands on Interstate 64 in southern Illinois

Belleville News-Democrat
Matt Bilderbeck of McLeansboro said he was driving on Interstate 64 and saw a plane crash land on the highway Friday morning. Bilderbeck, who took this photo after he circled back to the scene, said the pilot was walking around and did not appear to be injured. Bilderbeck was in the area after picking up materials for his landscaping business, Final Touch Landscaping and Dirtwork LLC.
Matt Bilderbeck of McLeansboro said he was driving on Interstate 64 and saw a plane crash land on the highway Friday morning. Bilderbeck, who took this photo after he circled back to the scene, said the pilot was walking around and did not appear to be injured. Bilderbeck was in the area after picking up materials for his landscaping business, Final Touch Landscaping and Dirtwork LLC. Matt Bilderbeck

An airplane crash landed on Interstate-64 in Jefferson County Friday, Illinois State Police said.

The plane experienced some kind of mechanical problem and the pilot brought it down on the interstate before hitting a guardrail near milemarker 80 in Mount Vernon. State police were alerted to the incident at 8:20 a.m.

No injuries have been reported.

Two federal agencies said they will not investigate what happened with this plane, which they described as an “unregistered ultralight.”

The National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement that it will launch an investigation because it “involves an unregistered ultralight, which does not meet our criteria.”

And the Federal Aviation Administration said it does not “investigate unregistered ultralight accidents/incidents as the vehicle does not meet the definition of an aircraft.”

This story was originally published September 6, 2024 at 11:55 AM.

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