Miraculous Escape: Small Plane Crashes on Massachusetts Highway, Avoids Catastrophe

A routine Monday morning commute on the Massachusetts Turnpike was shattered today by a scene straight out of a disaster movie: a small private plane, its engine faltering, made an astonishing emergency landing directly onto the bustling highway. The dramatic incident, which unfolded around 9:30 AM EST on October 13, 2025, saw a single-engine Piper PA-28 come down just west of the Framingham exit, narrowly avoiding collisions with vehicles below and transforming a stretch of I-90 into an active crash site.

Eyewitnesses described a terrifying spectacle as the aircraft, appearing to struggle, descended rapidly from the sky.

"I saw it banking hard, and then it was just… there," recounted Sarah Jenkins, who was driving a few car lengths behind where the plane eventually skidded. "It felt like slow motion. Everyone slammed on their brakes, and then this huge cloud of smoke went up." The pilot, identified as 58-year-old Mark Peterson, and his sole passenger, 45-year-old Lisa Chen, miraculously survived the impact, though both were transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Emergency services were on the scene within minutes, responding to a flurry of 911 calls.

State police, fire departments from surrounding towns, and paramedics converged on the site, quickly cordoning off several lanes of the turnpike. The immediate priority was extracting the occupants and securing the aircraft, which suffered significant damage to its wings and fuselage upon impact with the asphalt barrier and a nearby median.

Fuel leakage posed an additional hazard, requiring rapid containment efforts.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has already launched a full investigation into the crash. Preliminary reports suggest the pilot may have reported engine trouble shortly after departing from a small regional airport in the area.

Investigators will be examining the aircraft's maintenance records, flight data, and the pilot's experience to determine the exact cause of the mechanical failure. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is cooperating fully with the NTSB's inquiry, with a full report expected in the coming months.

For hours, the crash caused massive traffic gridlock, stretching for miles in both directions on the Mass Pike.

Commuters faced extensive delays and were advised to seek alternative routes as crews worked diligently to remove the wreckage and clear the scene. The incident serves as a stark reminder of the inherent risks in aviation, even with smaller private aircraft, and highlights the preparedness of Massachusetts' emergency response teams in averting what could have been an even greater tragedy on one of the state's busiest highways.