A vintage aircraft with some of the markings of Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe crashed onto the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills, California on Tuesday and burst into flames.

No one was injured.

Despite the use of the Luftwaffe’s black-and-white cross, the plane was not a WWII aircraft from Germany but rather a vintage North American AT-6/SNJ trainer aircraft. The plane belonged to Condor Squadron, a nonprofit organization which flies WWII-themed planes over parades, celebrations, memorials and in mock dogfights.

“I picked a spot on the freeway where I knew there was a big section of cars that weren’t there,” pilot Rob Sandberg told KABC. “The engine completely failed. I was able to, fortunately, not hurt anybody other than the airplane.”

Chris Rushing, president of Condor Squadron, told the Los Angeles Times the plane suffered “a catastrophic failure”

“Thank God he’s OK and no one got hurt on the ground,” Rushing said.

Observers on social media cracked jokes about the potential metaphor, a possible wormhole or perhaps just a glitch in the Matrix:

Authorities had no comment on the recent spate of wormhole events. https://t.co/eM7reKOYZp — Colin Peters (@ColinPeters) October 24, 2018

What, pray tell, the fuck am I supposed to make of this late-season symbolism https://t.co/ZsgLM1J0iX — Brooke Binkowski (@brooklynmarie) October 23, 2018

plane emerges from bermuda triangle wormhole and crashes on LA freeway pic.twitter.com/G60FHkZuTp — taffy b ◬ (@singwithTaffy) October 23, 2018

isnt this how close encounters of the third kind started https://t.co/Rm7rSkvxpR — darth™ (@darth) October 23, 2018

2018 has a new metaphor -- we're no longer the "dumpster fire;"

we're now in the "Nazi-fighter-plane-crashed-on-a-freeway fire" stage. — Captain Abraham (@ThomasHeaney6) October 23, 2018

A German WWII plane just crashed on the 101 highway in Agoura Hills. Luckily, no one was injured but remember to buy War Bonds and do your part to help our boys put an end to the Hun menace once and for all. pic.twitter.com/y4OwMgdDDz — Colin D. Garland (@Yeats1941) October 23, 2018

The one where Nazi Germany exploits a glitch in the Matrix to send the Luftwaffe on a mission to time travel into this dimension and attack the USA? It could be a movie. It could! https://t.co/voABg1jQRU — Ryan Banfill (@ryban1001) October 23, 2018

uh.

is that ..

a german ww2 plane?

... ON FIRE ON THE 101?! https://t.co/6dorIQve3Q — D̒͂̕ᵈăᵃn̕ᶰ Ť̾̾̓͐͒͠ᵗe͗̑́̋̂́͡ᵉn̅ᶰtᵗl̀̓͘ᶫe̓̒̂̚ᵉrʳ (@Viss) October 23, 2018

There's a glitch in the Matrix. A plane with the markings of the WWII Nazi Luftwaffe just crashed on a Los Angeles freeway. Yes, really. pic.twitter.com/9NMDNUabuH — Brewdood (@BrewdoodCMH) October 23, 2018

Looks like a T-6 Texan in Nazi Luftwaffe livery.



Which is some heavy-handed symbolism in this, the worst written timeline. https://t.co/jSNFLhV3Vk — Andrew Thaler (but maybe a werewolf or something) (@DrAndrewThaler) October 23, 2018

I choose to believe that the WWII aircraft that crashed on the 101 in Augora Hills was a time traveler who chose THIS timeline to try to stop a Nazi dictator. — Gennefer Ghouls 👻 (@Gennefer) October 23, 2018

After watching Doctor Who today this headline seems strangely possiblehttps://t.co/V9kGVifAcm — Shawn De Haven (@tokyo2la) October 24, 2018

A literal Nazi plane crashing on a freeway is a hell of a metaphor for this point in our history https://t.co/oseZNvx85b — Seasonally-Topical Username (@WCHamilton) October 23, 2018

Who would of thought that in 2018 a WW2 Nazi/Luftwaffe German war plane would come crashing down on the 101 Freeway in Agoura? pic.twitter.com/M4PJ3KvbdT — Bernie Deyo 🔥 (@BDP473) October 23, 2018

I hope the catastrophic failure of a Nazi plane in California is a metaphor https://t.co/ltp85DPhzm — Diana Yates (@diana_yates_) October 24, 2018

Yo did a Nazi fighter pilot just come out a wormhole or something? https://t.co/zODk1CEbse — Zack (@SwiggidyDiggity) October 23, 2018

File photo of pilot believed to have shot down the German plane over the 101 freeway earlier today. pic.twitter.com/xzj0j0laJv — Brett Papworth (@teambanzai) October 23, 2018

I hope the Nazi plane crashing on the 101 is a metaphor for what’s about to happen in the midterm elections. — Adam Newman (@Adam_Newman) October 23, 2018