- An Air Force OA-1K Skyraider II made an emergency landing in Oklahoma after a student pilot mistakenly switched off the fuel supply, resulting in a crash that caused $17 million in damages.
An Air Force special operations plane made an emergency landing last October on a rural Oklahoma road after a student pilot mistakenly switched off the fuel supply to the plane’s engine while 2,300 feet in the air. When the plane skidded to a halt in an empty nearby field, a stop sign from the road was lodged in its wing.
Neither the student nor the instructor pilot on board, who took over the plane’s controls as the engine sputtered and the plane began to fall from the sky, were hurt in the October 2025 mishap outside Oklahoma City. But the Skyraider II, which belonged to the 17th Special Operations Squadron at Will Rogers Air National Guard Base, was a total loss, which investigators valued at $17 million. The squadron trains Skyraider II pilots for Air Force Special Operations Command, or AFSOC.
In a final report released Friday, an Air Force accident investigation board blamed the pilot’s unintended mistake for the crash…