Emergency Plane Landing Near Jeremy Ranch on I-80

The small plane made an emergency landing and was then moved to the shoulder of I-80. Photo: Photo courtesy of Brandon Healy

JEREMY RANCH, Utah. — On Saturday evening, Dec. 5, a small plane made an emergency landing on I-80 East near the Jeremy Ranch exit. According to Flightradar24, a flight tracking app, the plane was a Cessna 172 Skyhawk that was headed from Idaho Falls, Idaho to Provo, Utah.

Summit County resident Brandon Healy saw the plane pulled off to the shoulder of the Interstate and posted a photo to his Facebook page saying, “Not everyday you see a plane on Eastbound I-80.”

UDOT reported the crash via twitter at 6:17 p.m. and closed the right lane of the highway. There were no reported injuries.

Here is a screenshot of our search on FlightRadar24 indicating that the plane was operating at a ground speed of 76 mph as it flew near Parley’s Canyon. This is a rather slow speed for flying at an elevation of 8,700 feet. TownLift speculates this is where the pilot’s engine may have stalled, prompting him to make an emergency landing along I-80. No details about what actually caused the emergency landing have been released.