A pilot and his plane are safe and unharmed after being forced to make an unscheduled landing Friday afternoon in Hardin County.
According to Hardin County Sheriff Mark Davis, the pilot had just taken off from the Jack Brooks Airport in Beaumont when the plane began to experience mechanical problems.
At 3:45 p.m., the pilot made the decision to land the plane in the middle of FM 1293, just north of FM 787, in the Thicket area of Hardin County.
“After the plane was safely landed, he and another man were able to get the plane off the highway and to a safe place. The pilot then got a ride to the sheriff’s office because he knew a lot of people were going to have questions about the plane landing in the road,” Davis said.
Davis could not provide the name of the pilot except to say that he was a young while male and was traveling alone in the plane.
“HCSO personnel have secured the scene until the arrival of Texas DPS and federal authorities,” said Sheriff Davis.
The investigation will be handed off to the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Federal Aviation Administration.