Pilot Accidentally Lands on Grand Canyon Highway

Stephen Pope

Thursday, September 20, 2012 at 07:18 PM ET

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Key Takeaways:

A pilot mistakenly landed a Piper Arrow on State Route 64 instead of Arizona's Grand Canyon National Park Airport due to confusion.
The incident was not an emergency landing and caused no injuries or damage to the aircraft.
The highway, adjacent to the airport, was temporarily shut down, and this is not the first time such an error has occurred.

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An apparently confused pilot of a Piper Arrow recently landed on State Route 64 instead of at Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park Airport, according to a report by the Arizona Republic.

“The plane did not crash, [it] simply landed on the highway,” the paper quoted an Arizona Department of Public Safety official as saying. “We now know this was not an emergency landing, simply a confused pilot who thought the highway was part of the airport.”