A 17-year-old pilot amazingly walked away without a scratch from his single engine plane after he crash landed it on a central Illinois highway.
"I'm a little bit stiff, but other than that, I'm not hurt," Scott Hall told WBBM-AM on Sunday. "I truly believe it was a miracle that nobody was hurt."
Hall's Piper Cherokee didn't fare so well. The small plane exploded in a fireball just moments after Hall left the mangled cabin.
Hall, a high school senior who's had his pilot's license for about six months, said the plane is totaled. It would cost close to $100,000 to piece it back together.
Peoria Police Department spokesman Doug Burgess says no one was injured during the Saturday evening crash landing.
The crash happened shortly after 7 p.m. in a four-lane road. Hall says he took off from Peoria's airport and crashed about 10 miles northeast of there.
Witness Matt Dalpiaz of Peoria says the plane appeared to clip a light pole and skidded across the road.
Authorities closed the road for about two hours while firefighters doused the blaze.
