Tuesday was an absolute nightmare for motorists up and down the Conejo Valley, but for Rob Sandberg, the 42-year-old pilot who put his airplane down in the middle of a busy 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills, it might have been the luckiest day of his life.
Sandberg, a Camarillo resident and longtime pilot, landed his small training aircraft on the northbound lane of the 101 Freeway at Liberty Canyon around 1:45 p.m. Oct. 23 after encountering engine trouble. If not for colliding with the center median, the aircraft might have escaped unscathed; fortunately, Sandberg did.
A large plume of black smoke rose quickly from the crash site. Sandberg, a professional commercial pilot with almost 30 years behind the cockpit, survived the ordeal with only singed hair. He was in the aircraft by himself.
With German war insignia on both wings, the plane appeared to be a vintage World War II aircraft, but it was a T-6 Texan, a single-engine airplane used to train pilots in the U.S. Air Force between the 1940s and the 1970s.
WRECKAGE—With thefire put out and the freeway closed, emergency workers assess the damage and discuss plans for removal of the aircraft. Traffic was brought to a halt for almost three hours. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers
It is part of the Condor Squadron, a nonprofit organization based out of the Van Nuys Airport that flies over parades and memorial services. Capt. Johnny Starling of the California Highway Patrol said the aircraft departed the airport and encountered mechanical trouble shortly after takeoff.
“The plan was to do a circle around the Warner Center and then touch down again at Van Nuys (Airport). About eight or nine minutes into the flight he heard two loud bangs, the engine went dead and he lost power,” Starling said.
“(The pilot) was able to maintain control of the aircraft and landed on the freeway. As he landed there was one car in front of him, and to avoid it he swerved to the left, hit the center divider and it burst into flames.”
Starling praised the pilot for avoiding injury to himself and the motorists hustling by as rush-hour traffic had begun to build.
“When I first walked up to the scene, knowing he just climbed out of a burning aircraft, I was surprised to see him just calmly standing on the side of the road going through his phone,” Starling said.
‘KEEP IT MOVING’—A CHP officer waves traffic along around 5:30 p.m. on the southbound 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills. Both sides of the freeway were snarled in both directions for over eight hours as crews worked to remove the wreckage. Courtesy of Kylie Herring
“He said he was fine. It was as if he’d had a flat tire on his car and was waiting for AAA to show up.”
Agoura Hills resident Jennifer Buzza, a certified Agoura Hills CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) first responder, was driving south on the 101 and was one of the first people to arrive at the scene.
“All I really comprehended was the (plane’s) last bounce and then it hitting the middle divider. I pulled over and started running to the plane,” Buzza said. “The pilot was out of the plane and a truck driver on the northbound side was getting out of his truck with a fire extinguisher. (When we learned) there was nobody else on the plane we backed off and said, ‘Okay, let’s keep cars away.’”
Buzza said her training helped her to remain calm and respond to the situation.
“It was unbelievable. First, it’s an old war plane, so you’re already confused. Next, there’s an airplane on the freeway crashing and burning in front of you. It doesn’t compute in your head,” Buzza said.
“My first response was, ‘you need to get out of here.’ Then I calmed myself down and went, ‘Nope, calm down, get over there, make sure people are (safe) because somebody could be in there right now.’”
The crash shut down north and southbound traffic on the 101 Freeway for almost three hours while emergency responders extinguished the flash fire that consumed most of the plane’s fuselage and attended to other key tasks.
Several lanes on both sides of the freeway reopened around 4:30 p.m.
Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration arrived at the crash site to gather information and evidence. The wreckage was hauled away overnight.
All that remained Wednesday was the scarring on the freeway pavement—and one local pilot happy to be alive.