Eric Jordan via WEAR Channel 3 News, Youtube Pilots are trained to always have an exit route in case things go awry in the air. But as 21-year-old pilot and flight instructor Emily Shelton told WEAR News 3, you never expect to have to use them. She unfortunately was forced to when her plane began losing power, leading to this incredible video captured of the plane she was piloting threading the needle under a highway sign before landing safely onto a busy interstate in Escambia County, Florida. Shelton was taking a student pilot in the air for their very first flight lesson the morning of August 3 when the cabin began to fill with smoke and the smell of burning oil. Both individuals had also noticed the engine was losing oil pressure and reported the mechanical issues to Air Traffic Control. When the Pensacola Air Flight School's Piper PA-28 Cherokee began to lose power, Shelton informed ATC they wouldn't make it to the airport and asked to declare an emergency as is protocol. They'd have to make an emergency landing on Florida's I-10 highway. Meanwhile, on the ground below, truck driver Eric Jordan was heading in the same direction in his semi. It was the dashcam on his truck that caught the astounding footage of Shelton's emergency landing. From the upper right corner of the screen, the Piper plane emerges, flawlessly flying under the highway signage, which is what they consider threading the needle, and through traffic to her landing spot ahead on the road. Jordan told WEAR, "it was a close call for the truck and for the sign, but he landed, he kept it in control." (He was unaware that the pilot was a woman at the time.) When practice does make perfect According to Fox 10 News, Escambia County deputies rushed to the scene and met the plane on landing. There was no external damage to the plane or surroundings, and both flight instructor and student were uninjured. Following the landing, the two jumped from the plane to push it onto the side of the highway until crews could safely remove it. The incident is currently under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration. In a statement to WEAR, Shelton said she made sure to assure the student that the two would be ok and that she was doing everything she could "to find us a safe place to put down the aircraft. She added, "I feel my training has prepared me exceptionally well for this moment, I've practiced this exact scenario many times, just never thought I'd actually have to execute it in real life." Later in the week, Shelton was presented with the Sheriff's Medal by the local Escambia County Sheriff's Office for her impressive emergency landing. In the presentation, Deputies cited that Shelton's calm while under pressure, combined with her training and professionalism helped in her ability to safely land the plane, which kept things from becoming what could have been a tragic incident.