DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — A new report revealed details on what happened just before a pilot was forced to land a Cessna in the median of E-470 near the Centennial Airport on March 8.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board Aviation's preliminary report, the pilot of the Cessna P210N said that the flight was cleared for an instrument approach when a controller in the control tower requested that the pilot use a parallel runway for landing. As the pilot started to make the adjustment, the engine did not respond and appeared to have lost power, according to the report.
The flight instructor said the engine was not vibrating, coughing or sputtering — there were no indications it had lost power.
The flight instructor was forced to execute a forced landing in the center median of the highway at 2:17 p.m., the NTSB report said. It landed about half a mile short of the runway threshold. After impact, the plane caught fire.
The flight instructor and pilot both had minor injuries.
The plane had departed from Dodge City, Kansas and was expected to land at the Centennial Airport.