Out Of Gas Plane Landed Safely

Alan Scheidegger’s Piper airplane did not even sputter when it died between Boise and Mountain Home Sunday night.

He had run out of gas.

The 48-year-old onion salesman landed the four-seat, single-engine airplane on Interstate 84 next to the Black’s Creek rest stop. No one was injured.

Scheidegger was flying alone on his way from Salem, Ore. to Sun Valley, but when he reached Mountain Home, he thought storm clouds looked menacing and he decided to turn back to Boise. That is when the plane ran out of gas, and he tried landing the plane in the westbound lanes. He jockeyed for a space between cars.

“I was going the same speed as one car, but I just couldn’t change my speed enough, and I would have set it down right on top of him,” he said. “I veered off to the side, and caught the landing gear on the side of the pavement. I pulled back on the yoke, and it slowed the plane down enough. I spun and landed in the median.”

Scheidegger said the rented plane’s instruments gave no indication he was low on fuel. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the accident.