The author of story below sure knew how to get the human interest
angle. So while hysterical motorists get all the sympathy, the
severely injured pilot gets barely a mention. So much for unbiased
journalism.

The story indicates that the California Highway Patrol estimated the
Bonanza's speed at 90 mph. Wouldn't the pilot have attempted to touch
down at about 50 knots? If not, why not. Perhaps he was tracking a
traveling hole in the traffic?

It looks like Mr. Baxter was well qualified:

Airmen Database Search Result

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name : BAXTER, J BARRY
Airman's Address : XXXXXXXX
BREA, CA, 92823-6323
FAA Region : Western/Pacific
Date of Medical : Nov, 2004
Class of Medical : 2
Expiration of Class 2 privileges : Nov, 2005
Airman Certificates : Commercial Pilot
Airplane Single Engine Land
Airplane Multiengine Land
Rotorcraft Helicopter
Instrument Airplane and Helicopter
: Flight Instructor
Airplane Single Engine
Instrument Airplane
Rotorcraft Helicopter
: Mechanic
Airframe
Powerplant

-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,7573410.story

June 19, 2005 story

Drivers Spot Plane in Rearview Mirror
Aircraft barely misses a vehicle and clips another as the pilot tries
to land on the Ventura Freeway.

By Wendy Thermos, Times Staff Writer

Talk about something coming at you out of the blue.

When David Sarraf of Beverly Hills saw a crippled small plane about to
smack into the rear of his car on the Ventura Freeway in Pasadena,
about all he could do was put himself on autopilot.

"I can't believe it, that a plane almost hit me. I'm still in shock,"
he said Saturday as he described the crash-landing of a single-engine
plane shortly before midnight Friday.

"I was swerving right and left. It felt like a dream. Everything was
in slow motion."

The aircraft, a 1951 Beechcraft Bonanza en route from Oregon to
Fullerton, clipped a Jeep Cherokee as the pilot tried to land in the
westbound lanes near Orange Grove Avenue. It spun 360 degrees and
landed upside down near the median.

Paramedics extricated pilot Barry Baxter, 63, of Brea and passenger
Dawn Hess, 48, of Downey from the crumpled fuselage.

Baxter was hospitalized with major injuries that were not believed to
be life-threatening; Hess received minor injuries.

"There's not a whole lot you can do if a plane is about to land on the
freeway," said California Highway Patrol Officer Francisco Villalobos.
But he added that the late hour meant the normally busy freeway had
only light traffic.

All lanes in both directions were closed for five hours while the
wreckage was removed.

The CHP said the plane had "an unknown engine malfunction" and that
both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National
Transportation Safety Board were investigating.

The Jeep's owner, Charles Redmond, 18, of Glendale was unhurt. But he
was "in complete shock" as he and Sarraf huddled on the shoulder of
the freeway and dialed 911.

Redmond, traveling west after dinner with his girlfriend in Monrovia,
didn't see the plane coming up behind his bronze 1997 SUV and thought
he'd been rear-ended by a car. Pulling over, he spotted the plane
wreckage and realized how close he'd come to disaster.

"I could have been squashed like a bug," said Redmond, a recent
graduate of La Salle High School in Pasadena who will attend USC in
the fall.

For Sarraf, 31, who operates a snack-food business, the episode was
doubly harrowing because he mistook Redmond's vehicle for one being
driven by his wife, Michelle, 28, whom he'd been following home from a
family outing in Arcadia. She had their baby daughter in the back
seat.

The couple had gone to a celebration marking their daughter Talia's
first birthday and the college graduation of Sarraf's cousin.

Struggling to stay awake, Sarraf had glanced out the passenger window
and was stunned to see the left wing of an airplane overtaking him in
the next lane.

Sarraf and Redmond said the plane came up silently. The CHP estimated
its speed at 90 mph. The cars were traveling about 65.

After barely missing Sarraf's black 2004 sedan, the aircraft barreled
toward Redmond's vehicle.

"I was honking like crazy and flashing my brights to warn my wife, who
I thought was in there," he said.

When the wing hit the vehicle, "my heart sank and I started shaking,"
he said. "I thought about my baby. I had tucked her in nicely in the
[child] seat and I hoped the seat belt would hold tight."