Pilot Makes Emergency Landing On Wyoming Highway Near Rawlins

A single-engine airplane was forced to make an emergency landing on Wyoming Highway 789 near Rawlins on Wednesday afternoon.

Andrea Staley with the Wyoming Department of Transportation’s District 1 office told Cowboy State Daily that the Federal Aviation Administration is still investigating the incident. She confirmed that the pilot wasn’t hurt and walked away from the landing.

“The pilot was able to safely land on a stretch of road with no traffic on, then pull over to the shoulder and safely park,” she said. “Everyone at WYDOT was very happy for that outcome.”

Wyoming Highway Patrol responded to the scene, but no road closures were enacted since the plane got entirely off the highway. Drivers were cautioned to go slower along the stretch of road until the plane could be safely removed.

“The plane will most likely be there overnight until the FAA can get their investigation done,” Staley said. “It’s right over a blind hill, but there’s no blockage to the road.”

Best Case Scenario

Longtime pilot Mitch Semel described the scene as the “best-case scenario,” given the necessity of an emergency landing.

“The pilot walked away, the plane looks intact and nobody was hurt on the ground,” he said. “If we got a video of this, we would show student and say, ‘If it ever comes to it, this is what we hope you do in real life.’”

The cause of the emergency landing has yet to be determined. One possible explanation is the subzero temperatures across Wyoming on Wednesday. Rawlins’ daytime high was 11 degrees, with wind chills as low as minus 10.

“There can be issues in cold weather, just as would be the case with a car’s engine operating in winter,” Semel said. “It would be hard to speculate without knowing the particulars.”

Nevertheless, images from the scene suggest the plane didn’t sustain any damage. Semel said that stretch of Highway 789 seems a perfect place for an emergency landing.

“Even if the pilot hadn't made the asphalt of the highway, it looks like they were dealing with a fairly flat space of presumably hard ground, snow-packed or just cold. That's what we hope for.”

What Pilots Train For

Semel, a chief flight instructor at Take Flight Aviation in Chappaqua, New York, said one of the misconceptions many people have about aviation is that pilots aren’t prepared for emergency situations. Many aviation schools run emergency scenarios during every lesson.

“A student getting a private pilot license will learn how to take off, land, manage the engine and fuel, navigate and communicate,” he said. “But at some point, we’ll run their scenarios whether it’s smoke in the cockpit, a spark off a wire or partial or full loss of power. Emergency landings are one of the big events we train for.”

Single-engine planes also have an advantage in an emergency. Semel said their design makes it that much easier to land.

“When single-engine planes lose power, they make very good gliders,” he said. “They don’t plummet nose-down like other planes. Managing planes in these scenarios is another thing we train for, which increases the chances for a successful outcome.”

Cowboy State Safety

Every pilot wants to avoid an emergency landing, but when necessary, there might be no better place for one than Wyoming.

In September 2024, a pilot flying from Nebraska to Oregon encountered a mechanical issue and made an emergency landing 23 miles north of Cheyenne on Interstate 25. The pilot safely landed, fixed the plane and took off again from the interstate.

Semel said he and most other pilots would prefer to make an emergency landing in Wyoming than someplace like New York, if they had to.

“In New York, I might be flying over a forest or a highway with a traffic jam on it,” he said. “Wyoming has lots of good choices when choosing an off-airport landing spot.”

Semel commended the pilot for the successful emergency landing. While it’s often said that any landing you can walk away from is “a good landing,” Semel said in this case it seems the pilot’s experience and training led to the best possible outcome.

“There’s a lot of big considerations during an emergency landing,” he said. “Can you stay clear and get a sense of obstacles nearby? Can I stay away from any powerlines or things like that? This is the outcome you want in an emergency landing, and I can’t stress that enough.”

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.