Florida drivers on I-10 likely thought they were seeing things when 21-year-old Emily Shelton had to make an emergency landing on the freeway. The entire death-defying event happened in Pensacola as the young flight instructor encountered a problem. Though Shelton is just 21, her strength and level-headedness during the life-or-death situation make it seem like she’s been flying for 30 years.

According to news reports, Shelton was taking a student out for his very first flying lesson when the plane malfunctioned. She called in the mechanical trouble immediately, but no one could’ve guessed what would come shortly after. When she first called in to air traffic control, they cleared her for the runway at a nearby airport before asking if she was okay staying at her current height.

Trying to stay in the sky

“No, we’re going to stay high for now so we can at least fly to the airport,” she replies. That confidence in making it to the airport quickly faded when Shelton called back, reporting,........

© Upworthy