After only two minutes of flight, Charles Kirtland knew his Wheathopper ultralight aircraft was having a problem. The engine quit running.

Kirtland said he had “no choice” Saturday morning but to land the aircraft.

With about 25 years of flying experience under his belt, Kirtland knew he wouldn’t make it back to the private landing strip in Shannon where he started. He instead chose New Calhoun Highway (Ga. 53), which he said was nearly devoid of vehicles and had almost no traffic at 8:30 a.m.

He said the highway was perfect and he was able to safely land just north of Pinson Road without injury to himself, motorists or his aircraft.

Once on the highway, Kirtland moved the plane to the median to avoid being struck by vehicles.

Kirtland, who lives in Armuchee, had taken off around 8:30 a.m. and landed a few minutes later. The Rome Fire Department and Floyd County Police Department both responded to the scene.

Kirtland believes the engine failure was caused by a fuel problem but hasn’t had time to examine the engine fully yet. He said he never experienced an emergency landing before.