Pilot Walks Out Of Woods After Emergency Landing Near Slaughter, Louisiana

A pilot made an emergency landing near Slaughter, Louisiana, Thursday morning after reporting electrical problems, sending deputies and local police rushing to the scene off La. Highway 19. No one was hurt, and the aircraft was later found with no apparent damage.

According to the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Office, the landing happened Thursday morning off La. Highway 19 in Slaughter. A caller told deputies that a man had walked out of the woods and said he had landed his plane nearby, and that he planned to find help getting it out. The pilot told deputies he had taken off less than a mile from the site because of electrical issues, per the sheriff's office.

Separately, as reported by theadvocate.com, sheriff's deputies and the Slaughter Police Department were dispatched at 10:29 a.m. Thursday to 1355 La. 19 in Slaughter after a report of a plane crash. That outlet reported the pilot said the plane had not crashed — rather, he had to make an emergency landing — and that he landed in an open field because of the electrical issues, with no one injured during the landing.

Conflicting Details On Where The Plane Came Down

The two local accounts of Thursday's incident differ on exactly where the aircraft touched down. The sheriff's office description, relayed by WBRZ, places the landing in wooded area, with the pilot walking out of the trees to seek help. The account from theadvocate.com instead describes the pilot setting the plane down in an open field. Neither version has been resolved in available reporting, and this article presents both as reported.

Officials who responded to the scene found a pontoon plane equipped with wheels and said it showed no apparent damage, per the sheriff's office. The Slaughter Police Department said it would investigate the emergency landing, and the Federal Aviation Administration was also notified and said it would look into the incident. theadvocate.com reported that the FAA was notified and that Slaughter police continued investigating the scene as of Thursday.

What Remains Unknown

Investigators have not released the pilot's identity, the aircraft's model, or its registration information. A search of the FAA's aircraft registry for the number 1355 turned up a result indicating assigned or multiple records, according to registry.faa.gov, but that listing does not confirm which aircraft was involved in Thursday's landing. No final determination from police or federal investigators has been made public.

Emergency landings off rural Louisiana roadways are not unheard of. In July 2020, a small plane used a Louisiana highway as a makeshift runway, according to nola.com, and a pilot near Abita Springs set a small plane down on a dirt road after experiencing engine issues, per wwltv.com. Just this August, the FAA opened an investigation after a small plane on a training flight made an emergency landing on a Florida interstate, as reported by CNN. Those incidents do not establish a broader trend, but they show Thursday's Slaughter landing fits a pattern of small aircraft finding unconventional places to put down when trouble strikes mid-flight.