It's raining planes: in latest incident light aircraft lands on Detroit street

There has been a rash of crash landings of light aircrafts in America

Detroit police on the scene of crash (AP)

Two people were hurt, including the pilot, when a small plane crash-landed on a street on the East side of Detroit.

The propeller aircraft had reportedly been trailing a banner as Detroit was enjoying the annual Ford Fireworks, a display of pyrotechnics on the Detroit River that is visible to residents in the city and also in Windsor, Ontario.

The pilot, who was said to be just 18 years old, was seemingly forced to attempt to land the plane on a street after running out of fuel. As he descended he struck a power cable, bringing it down. He walked out of the plane but was taken to hospital for light injuries.

However, a passer-by was also taken to hospital after being hit by the falling power cable and electrocuted. The person’s condition was described as “serious”, by city officials.

“I was walking up the street here, and then all of a sudden, a plane was just a little too low and it actually hit poles and a wire here,” witness Dondra Mainor told WDIV-TV, a local news station.

The Detroit Chief of Police, James Craig, told the station that while the plane had been towing an advertising banner, it had been cut loose by the pilot before he attempted the emergency landing.

The plane came to a standstill in the middle of the street. Had it not been for the power-cables the incident might have gone off without any injuries.

Private planes dropping from the sky are a fairly common phenomenon in America’s crowded skies. The Detroit incident came exactly a week after a pilot successfully put his small plane down on the roof of a two-storey warehouse belonging to the Macy’s department store in the Houston area. It came to a stop at the very edge of the structure and the pilot emerged unscathed.

“He could not have landed on a better spot. He's right on top of a structural I-beam,“ said Lee Hinajosa with Montgomery County Iron Works.

In May, a pilot landed his light aircraft on the roof of an industrial building in the Pomona area of Los Angeles. He was airlifted to a nearby hospital but suffered only minor injuries.