Police said hundreds of thousands of people travel on the road daily and emergency crews were expecting the worst when they responded to the incident on Monday
Two people have survived after a small plane crashed into cars on a busy road.
A single-engine aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing on the road around 12.10pm on Monday, February 9 in Georgia in the United States, crashing into multiple vehicles at a busy intersection, the Gainesville Police Department said.
Gainesville Police Captain Kevin Holbrook said the plane was attempting to return to the airport after the pilot noticed a loss of engine power.
Thomas Rogers, the pilot of the aircraft, said everything went wrong just moments after take-off.
“We lost our engine taking off out of Gainesville and realised, tried to glide back, did everything by the book, but realised we weren’t gonna make it back with how far out we were, so we came down the road,” Mr Rogers told local media.
Without a runway in reach, Mr Rogers was forced to aim for traffic-filled asphalt.
The aircraft struck three vehicles during the emergency landing and ripped a fuel tank loose, sending it crashing into the back of an SUV.
“The fact that this plane came down, did not strike any power poles, any power lines, and only hit three vehicles is absolutely remarkable,” Captain Holbrook said.
Captain Holbrook said hundreds of thousands of vehicles travel the roadway every day so emergency crews were expecting the worst.
“This is typically a situation which we would see multiple fatalities,” he added.
Onlooker Deanna Campbell watched in disbelief the as the landing unfolded.
“I just told my husband, I said, ‘That’s a plane! That’s a plane!’ It really scared us,” Mrs Campbell said.
Police confirmed that Mr Rogers and a student pilot suffered minor injuries in the incident and were taken to hospital for treatment.