THIS is the terrifying moment a pilot narrowly misses highway signage to make a daring emergency landing on a major Florida road.

Flight instructor Emily Shelton, 21, performed the skilful manoeuvre after smelling fumes in the cockpit and warning air traffic control: “We’re not making it to the airport.”

Terrifying dashcam footage shows the moment a plane comes down on a major Florida highway

The aircraft narrowly avoids signage before making a safe emergency landing

Heart-stopping dashcam footage shows the moment she glided under highway signs, avoided traffic and safely landed on the interstate.

Emily, who has logged around 1,300 hours of flight time, had been taking a student on his first ever lesson when she reported the smell of burning fuel.

She told air traffic control: “Our oil pressure is dropping down into the red, and we do have fumes in the cockpit from the oil.”

As the situation worsened, she warned controllers that they would not make it to the airport.

She said: “We would like to go ahead and declare an emergency. We’re losing our engine.

“We are not making the airport; we are going down on I-10. We are lined up trying to avoid the cars.”

Controllers replied: “Roger. It’s at your discretion, safe spot as possible. We’ll get the vehicles out for you.”

Truck driver Eric Jordan, whose dashcam recorded the feat, described the landing as a “miracle”.

Flight instructor Emily Shelton, 21, kept her composure during the scary ordeal

The footage shows her time the landing perfectly so as to avoid any traffic

He told CNN affiliate WEAR: “If I wouldn’t have seen that shadow over my truck and slowed down, (the plane) would have been in the side of the cab.”

Escambia County cops rushed to the I-10 east in Pensacola where the plane touched down.

Emily said that she was reassuring the student pilot throughout the ordeal that she would find a safe place to land.

She told the outlet: “I feel my training has prepared me exceptionally well for this moment.

“I’ve practised this exact scenario many times, just never thought I’d actually have to execute it in real life.”

Nicole Gill, her boyfriend’s mum and a fellow pilot, told Fox: “It was such a near miss, and she did such an amazing job, keeping everybody safe.

“You realise how close and how dangerous it actually was.”

Nicole reflected on the moment Emily narrowly missed the highway sign.

She said: “Had she gone over it, she very well might have ended up in traffic versus that very small gap that she actually had to get over that truck but under the sign and also not overtake the cars in front of her.

“It’s just amazing that she was able to keep that plane under control.”

Nicole added that the 21-year-old is in good spirits after the ordeal.

She said: “She’s doing really well, and she’s ready to get back up there.”

Former army pilots have also praised the young flight instructor’s composure.

Tommy Lee, founder of nonprofit Pilots for Christ, told Fox: “The smoke gets in there, and you can’t breathe, so time is a critical factor on something like this.

“They did a great job getting it down quick.”

The US Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/16796149/pilot-emergency-landing-florida/