Startling footage has surfaced depicting a Tesla driver narrowly escaping a collision with a large military aircraft that made an emergency landing on a highway in Oklahoma.
This incident involved an Oklahoma National Guard OA-1K Skyraider II turboprop plane, which was undertaking a training mission on Thursday from Will Rogers Air National Guard Base when an engine failure occurred. This forced the crew to make an emergency landing around 2 p.m., as reported.
While the aircraft glided down toward Southeast 119th Street and Sooner Road in Oklahoma City, Tesla driver Matthew Topchan recorded the alarming moment when the plane came exceedingly close to his vehicle and another car.
“I was driving, and suddenly, right above the trees, I noticed a plane. I thought to myself, ‘That plane looks really low. Like, really low,'” Topchan recounted.
The plane skimmed over a hill, almost striking a white van and a Tesla before disappearing from view altogether.
“It felt like the plane was heading straight for me,” Topchan stated.
He added, “I only saw it for a few seconds, so there wasn’t much time to think, ‘Oh, it’s just a plane. I should probably get out of the way.'” The situation left him momentarily stunned, but he quickly looked around to assess the damage caused by the plane.
“It knocked down what I think were power lines or something, leading to fires popping up everywhere,” he remembered.
In a state of panic, he called his mother to inform her of the unfolding chaos, saying, “Hey, I don’t know what’s going on.”
Upon arrival, the Oklahoma City Fire Department was relieved to find that the two military pilots on board had safely exited the aircraft, unharmed.
Scott Douglas, a spokesman for the Oklahoma City Fire Department, expressed satisfaction at the pilots’ safety, noting, “It was refreshing to see that everyone was okay when we got there.”
One of the crew members explained that the engine failed in mid-air, leading the aircraft to hit nearby power lines, which caused a power outage and ignited a grass fire.
A traffic sign was even lodged into the wing of the plane during this harrowing landing.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Air Force Special Operations Command.
Topchan mentioned that when he shared the dash cam footage of the incident, some viewers thought it was fabricated or digitally altered. “People kept saying it looked like AI; like, no, this is real! If there wasn’t a dash cam, I think no one would believe it,” he explained, emphasizing how surreal the experience felt.
Ultimately, Topchan expressed gratitude that he and everyone involved emerged unscathed from the near-disaster. “Tomorrow is never guaranteed. We ought to make the most of today,” he concluded.
