It was a narrow miss on Tuesday evening near Chicago when a twin-engine plane crash landed at a busy intersection, close to an apartment complex.

Authorities say the pilot was injured but walked away from the crash; he was the only person on board. The plane went down at about 8:30 p.m. while trying to land at Chicago Executive Airport, crash landing near the intersection of Wolf and Hintz Roads. Luckily–and somewhat amazingly–no one on the ground was hurt. The FAA is investigating the cause of the crash.

Airport officials are praising the pilot for his quick thinking after experiencing problems on the plane–which he called in right before the crash–because otherwise, it could have been much worse.

“To develop a problem and then put it down on the road instead — it could have been a lot worse,” Dennis Rouleau said. “It could have been in some buildings, but he was able to put it down on the street to avoid injuries to himself and people on the ground. There was a fair amount of damage, but for what he did, the airplane was pretty intact for landing short of the runway. He did a spectacular job of avoiding homes and cars.”

Mayor Nick Helmer agrees, saying, “It would have been a disaster. Actually what happened was a Godsend. I think we’re very fortunate to have an airplane accident that was a walkaway situation. It’s very fortunate that nobody was hurt — either on the ground or those in the air.”

Image: The Daily Herald