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Update: WWII Plane Crashes on Highway 20
After thirty minutes in the air, testing out the rebuilt engine of a P-51 Mustang, pilot John Bagley made an emergency landing on Highway 20.
"The thing that hurts the most is that this is a historic airplane, in really good shape and it was just a choice airplane," said the pilot John Bagley.
This choice airplane, landed in the center divider, causing traffic in Rexburg to be back up for hours on Thursday.
Police and state troopers arrived on the scene immediately, roping off the area, sending travelers on a detour in both the north and south bound lanes.
Both police and the FAA are investigating, they don't know what happened, but the pilot did say he experienced some engine problems before he crashed.
Bagley says he was performing a stop-and-go procedure with the newly restored engine.
As he pulled off the runway a second time, the engine quit, started running again, than quit once more.
"I could see I wasn't going to make it. The only place I knew to go was the median because I couldn't go south bound because I was going faster than the cars north bound take them head on," Bagley added.
Shortly after the emergency landing, Bagley was able to make his way out of the plane with only a few minor cuts and bruises.
"It's amazing he walked out of this, and lucky he did," said Rexburg Police Officer Shane Turman.
Bagley is no stranger to a wild flight. He says he's almost used up all of his nine lives, but when asked if he's reached his final destination, “Heavens no,” he said, “you get in a car wreck you go back and drive a car. I'm not giving up flying."
Perhaps just in this plane. Crews came, destroying the remains, picking the plane apart piece by piece to get it off the highway.
The plane will be taken to a local hanger, where police and the FAA will continue investigating the crash.
Highway 20 has reopened.
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