An Air Force OA-1K Skyraider II came close to cars on an Oklahoma highway this week. The crew, a civilian contractor and active-duty member of the Air Force, made an emergency landing without injury while flying a training mission with the Oklahoma Air National Guard.
Matthew Topchian was driving like any other day, when suddenly the plane appeared, flying at eye level almost directly towards him. His dash cam captured it.
Mayday declared just 5 minutes after takeoff
The plane, operating under the call sign Zorro75, narrowly missed Topchian and other cars, and came to rest in a field. The crew had just taken off from KOKC. Upon takeoff, the crew climbed uneventfully to 3,500 feet, but quickly lost speed and altitude. They declared “mayday” just 5 minutes into the flight.
The Skyraider is assigned to the 492d Special Operations Wing, but was operating with the 137th Special Operations Wing out of Will Rogers Air National Guard Base.
AvGeek red house aviation I was on site monitoring conversations and documenting (follow their Facebook page).
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1SWS1TRe9g/?mibextid=wwXIfr
“They hit the curb with one of the tires, drove through a small, uneven field, crossed a road, hit a stop sign and a utility pole, before turning left and stopping in a field,” Redhome says in a Facebook post. “The airplane is resting on its right wing, with the stop sign still on the leading edge of the left wing.”
The crew was seen walking through the wreckage of the plane. Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing and no one on the ground was hurt either. Congratulations to them and the lifeguards.
Air Force Special Operations Command just accepted its first OA-1K Skyraider II on mission earlier this year, designed for close air support, precision strike and armed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Read more about this HERE.
The cause is under investigation.
