Interstate 90 in North Idaho serves as emergency landing strip

Tuesday afternoon (May 22), a plane was forced to use an eastbound lane of Interstate 90 over Lookout Pass as an emergency landing strip after reportedly catching a downdraft. Local news agencies reported that the pilot walked away from the scene and that no drivers on the ground were impacted during the crash-landing.

Although the small aircraft landed on the Montana side of the pass and only blocked one lane, Idaho Transportation Department crews were on site within minutes to coordinate with the Montana Department of Transportation and put up signs warning of a wreck ahead.

“When I first heard the call over State Comm, and then from my crew on their way there, I was worried that someone was hurt,” said Foreman Dave Palmer. “The first thing I wanted to know about was if the plane had collided with any drivers on the ground, but thankfully that didn’t happen.”

Palmer said he had never heard of a plane crash-landing on I-90 before, although his crew occasionally coordinates with helicopters from Life Flight to medevac injured drivers.

“All things considered, this was not as bad as it could have been,” Palmer said. “It wasn’t a normal day in the office, but it also wasn’t as dramatic as one would have thought.”

Published 05-25-18