Small plane hits pickup during emergency landing on Fort Myers road, no one hurt

Pilot reported engine issue before Saturday incident; FAA leads investigation

A Cessna 172 struck the rear of a pickup truck Saturday while making an emergency landing on Bayshore Road in Fort Myers, Florida, and no one was reported injured, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

Video footage from the sheriff’s office shows the plane grazing over the truck as it approached the ground for a complete landing on the busy roadway at about 11:45 a.m. Saturday.

The pilot reported an engine issue before the landing, according to a statement from the FAA.

Flight tracking data shows the aircraft took off from Sebring, Florida, at around 11 a.m. Saturday and made the emergency landing about 50 minutes later. Two people were on board.

The pickup truck was traveling eastbound on Bayshore Road at the time, and the sheriff’s office reported no injuries at the scene.

“Couldn’t have been a better outcome. Grateful doesn’t come close!” Carmine Marceno, Lee County’s sheriff, wrote in a post on X.

Marceno said sheriff’s office personnel and the Florida Department of Transportation safely relocated the aircraft while the FAA works to assume the investigation. The FAA is the lead agency on the investigation into the incident.

The emergency landing came one week after a business jet carrying nine people nose-dived into a South Florida neighborhood and erupted into a giant fireball.