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'Glad to be alive': Pilot dodged powerlines to land safely on Hwy 97 in North Idaho

The emergency landing happened on southbound Highway 97 near South Caribou Ridge Road.

KOOTENAI COUNTY, Idaho — Video shows the plane that made an emergency landing on Highway 97 on Thursday evening taking off from the same place it landed Friday afternoon. 

The landing happened on southbound Highway 97 near South Caribou Ridge Road.

ISP officials said no one was hurt and there was no damage as a result of the landing. 

Scott J Morledge-Hampton, 52, of Billings, Montana, was flying to Felts Field when his airplane's engine failed, according to ISP. 

Morledge-Hampton was the only person on the plane. He was attempting to land on a dirt road, according the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office. 

KREM 2 spoke with Morledge-Hampton at the scene. 

"No smoke, no fire, nothing scary beyond just the scariness of having an engine failure," he said.

He said he knew something wasn't right and radioed this to a tower in Spokane. With little time to act he relied on his knowledge as a pilot.

"I enriched the mixture and pushed in the propeller control and gave it some more throttle, but it just wasn't having it that engine was not going to restart," he said.

When nothing else seemed to work Morledge-Hampton used his GPS to look for private airports, but couldn't find one nearby. He eventually found a field and Highway 97.

"After that car went by, there was no one on the roads so I continued to bank to the right and placed it on the road," he said.

He said he dodged power lines and landed at the top of Beauty Bay Hill.

"Very scary, very lucky," he said.

He's able to smile about it, his wife might have a different response.

"When I go home and tell this story my wife will probably never ever fly with me again...just glad to be here, glad to be alive," Morledge-Hampton said.

This isn't the first time Morledge-Hampton said he crash landed. In 1998, he safely landed the same type of plane with his father in Skagway, Alaska.

The sheriff's office said another plane in the area was the first one to report the incident. 

As for the plane, officials said it was able to pull into a nearby driveway. The road was not blocked. 

Authorities noted the pilot showed no signs of intoxication or medical problems. 

Video from a KREM 2 viewer showed the plane taking off from the same location on Friday afternoon.  

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