Firefighting plane takes off from I-84

The plane begins its take-off roll on I-84 while state police shut down the interstate for about 15 minutes.

I-84 served as a runway Sunday evening for a firefighting airplane that had run out of gas and landed in the desert near milepost 88 Saturday night.

The incident began Saturday when an AT-802 single engine aircraft, a type more commonly used as a crop duster, was dropping fire retardant on the East Roaring fire in the Trinity Mountains.

The aircraft was under contract by AeroTeck to provide those services for the U.S. Forest Service and was operating out of the Mountain Home municipal airport.

After completing its mission it was returning to Mountain Home when it ran out of gas over Lockman Butte. BLM air safety officials said the plane's instrumentation told the pilot he still had fuel aboard when the turbine engine of the aircraft quit.

The pilot, Bob Benson, has over 20,000 hours of flying experience. He glided the plane to a dead-stick landing in the desert just off I-84, about 12 miles short of the municipal airport runway. Miraculously, his plane didn't hit any of the rocks or holes that fill the desert terrain, and the plane came to rest about 150 yards from the interstate at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Safety officials spent much of Sunday inspecting the aircraft to make sure it had not been damaged in the landing.

Meanwhile, the BLM used one of its bulldozers to cut a road in the dirt to the plane.

Late Sunday evening, just before 8 p.m. the plane was refueled with 100 gallons of gas, it's battery was jump started, and the plane taxied down the new dirt road to the edge of the interstate.

The Idaho State Police then temporarily closed the westbound lane of the interstate, the plane pulled onto the roadway, and after about a minute, taxied down the interstate and quickly lifted off into the setting sun.

The plane returned to the municipal airport where it underwent a more extensive safety evaluation.

ISP officials admitted it was the oddest "motorist assist" they'd ever had. None of the officers at the scene said they'd ever seen a plane take off from the interstate.

Authorities at the scene, who had been keeping an eye on the aircraft throughout the day, reported that twice that day cars driving by had spun out of control and slid off the interstate as their drivers spent more time looking at the plane than keeping their eyes on the road.