Cessna 208B lands on highway in Northern Virginia

A Cessna 208B Grand Caravan made a forced landing on a highway in Northern Virginia two minutes after taking off from Dulles International Airport (IAD). On board were five passengers and two crew members and there were no reported injuries.

IAD posted a statement on X (formerly Twitter) saying reports about the landing were received at about 12:50 p.m. and responders from Loudoun County were at the scene. Dulles remained open for takeoffs and landings. The plane was scheduled to depart Dulles for Lancaster, Pennsylvania according to AP News. The plane was operated by Southern Airways Express and the CEO Stan Miller told AP News in a statement that they were relieved there were no injuries and they were thankful to the pilots.

“We are relieved to report there were no injuries, and all passengers are safe and sound,” Miller said to AP News. “We are thankful to our pilots, who did exactly what they were trained to do -- to put the safety of our passengers first. We are working closely with the authorities to thoroughly investigate the situation.”

Virginia State Police said the southbound lanes remained close as of 3:00 p.m. on Friday.