Marcella Corona, and Anjeanette Damon

Reno Gazette-Journal

A small plane crashed in West Reno on Tuesday afternoon after its engine failed, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Cessna 182A went down on McCarran Boulevard near Plumb Lane

The pilot and his passenger were not hurt, but the crash did damage the single-engine airplane. The names of the pilot and his passenger were not released on Tuesday.

The plane was reportedly heading to Truckee when it crashed, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said in an email.

The plane is registered in Truckee, Calif. to Extreme Source, Inc., according to the FAA website.

Extreme Source recently opened a skydiving school at the Truckee airport. Skydive Truckee Tahoe is operated by third generation skydiver Michael Swanson, Jenn Drew and Julia Drew.

The pilot declined to comment on Tuesday, and Jenn Drew said she had no information about the crash-landing.

The pilot was trying to avoided traffic on Interstate 80 and landed on McCarran Boulevard instead, Battalion Chief Mark Winkleman, of the Reno Fire Department, said Tuesday.

"He looked at I-80, and I-80 was pretty much packed with vehicles," Winkleman said of the pilot Tuesday. "He didn't want to use that option, so he found a much less traveled route at the time and put it in a good spot.

"So I think his training paid off and he was able to do a pretty good job of getting the aircraft to where it is now."

Irene Quddus was driving on McCarran Boulevard when she turned a corner and "saw a plane in the middle of the road."

“I didn’t actually see it happen; I just saw the aftermath,” Quddus said. “People had stopped and were running to help him or her.”

Sherry Olofson, the office administrator for Dickson Realty on the corner of McCarran Boulevard and Plumb Lane, said she drove past the plane crash.

“The plane looks like the nose is crashed in,” Olofson said. “It looks like it made a nose dive and tried to land on McCarran. The cockpit looks fine. I think the pilot is OK because the ambulance is still here. The wing on the passenger side is over the wall. No cars are involved, thank God."

The roadway was reopened nearly four hours later, according to the Reno Police Department dispatch.

Authorities with the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board took over the investigation on Tuesday.