DEL MAR, Calif. — News 8 has obtained some of the audio between air traffic controllers and the pilot of the plane that landed in the middle of Interstate 5 on Tuesday.
In one of the clips, air traffic controllers can be heard asking the pilot how many souls are on board, to which the pilot responds, “we have two souls on board.”
CHP says shortly after taking off from Montgomery Field the pilot and passenger noticed the plane was having mechanical problems.
"He tried to land the plane in a nearby field but was unable to and landed in southbound lanes of Interstate 5," said Salvador Castro, CHP.
The pilot tried to land the single-engine Piper PA-32 in a nearby field but couldn't and touched down on the southbound side of the freeway, south of Via de la Valle in the North City area shortly after noon, according to the California Highway Patrol and Federal Aviation Administration.
The aircraft "clipped" several vehicles before rolling to a stop against a center-divider wall, said Jose Ysea, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
Video and images from the scene showed that one of the vehicles struck by the plane, a white sedan, sustained a shattered rear window in the impact, and another, an SUV, was left with a torn-off piece of the aircraft protruding from its back end. The crash-landing left most of the right wing of the airplane sheared off.
The plane was removed around 4 p.m. CHP says several occupants of the damaged cars were transported to a hospital for treatment of apparently minor injuries, including superficial cuts from shattered glass. There were no immediate reports of injuries to anyone else.
CHP says the pilot and the passenger walked away from the crash unharmed. They declined to comment to News 8.
Listen to the full air traffic control audio below