A plane nearly clipped a lorry and several cars on a motorway when it was forced to crash land after suffering engine failure.

Video footage captured the horror moment the pilot of the plane had to make last-ditch efforts to land safely when the aircraft failed them, with the driver filming the incident noticeably screaming in the background.

Motorists travelling behind the light aircraft filmed the plane coming down and panicked as they feared it would crash into vehicles going at speed down the motorway. The pilot demonstrated serious skill in a tricky situation by manoeuvring it under overhead power lines so it touched down safely on the tarmac without anyone being killed or even injured.

Police have confirmed two people were on board and confirmed they were okay, naming the pilot as 29-year-old Mateus Renan Calado and the passenger as the airplane’s owner, 71-year-old businessman Valdemiro Jose Minella.

The drama occurred after the plane left an aerodrome in Gauramirim in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina shortly before midday on Saturday.

The single-engine Pelican 500 BR reportedly suffered engine failure above the BR-1010 in nearby Garuva and was forced to make its emergency landing on the packed highway as emergency response vehicles raced to the scene.