Plane makes emergency landing, gets hit by 3 cars

Santa Barbara: Authorities say a small airplane was struck by three vehicles just after it made an emergency landing on a California freeway.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says the Piper PA-24 Comanche with two people on board was bound for Santa Barbara Airport on Sunday when it experienced some sort of problem and landed on the southbound side of US Highway 101, about 1.6 kilometres northeast of the airport.

California Highway Patrol Officer James Richards says three cars were unable to avoid the plane and crashed into it. He says the occupants of the plane and the cars were not injured.

Richards says traffic backed up for kilometres while crews shut down the freeway to remove the plane.