ST. GEORGE, Utah — After sitting alongside a Utah highway for weeks, a small plane forced to make an emergency landing last month finally returned to the friendly skies, using the same road to vault into the air.
No one was injured when the emergency landing originally occurred in October near the Southern Parkway just outside St. George.
Instead of hauling the plane back to get fixed, its owner asked Red Mountain Aero, a local mechanic, to see if it would be logistically possible to make needed repairs while the aircraft sat off the road.
With no objections, the mechanics went to work and the repairs were made. The only thing left was getting the plane off the ground without a runway.
Working with the Utah Highway Patrol and Utah Department of Transportation, the plane's owner came up with a plan to slow traffic, opening up a window for the plane to taxi onto the Southern Parkway at 3000 South and use it as a runway.
At 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the plan went into action, and the aircraft safely returned to flight, quickly making the 13-minute journey home to St. George.
And not a single speeding ticket was written.
