THOMPSON — Emergency personnel responded to the scene of a small plane crash on State Route 42 in the Town of Thompson on Friday afternoon.

The pilot, 66 year-old Mark Simmons from Troy, Maine, walked away uninjured.

It was just before 1 p.m. when the single-engine aircraft went down approximately three miles south of the Village of Monticello and at the border with the Town of Forestburgh.

According to the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, Simmons was piloting his Cessna 210 from Sussex, New Jersey, to the Sullivan County Airport in Bethel when he experienced  engine trouble approximately nine miles out.

Simmons then managed to set the plane down on a stretch of State Route 42 that had minimal traffic at the time. He emerged from the aircraft by himself before the front end was consumed in flames.

Simmons was the only person onboard the aircraft.

The Monticello and Forestburgh Fire Departments responded to the scene, along with the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office and later the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Rock Hill Fire Department, Mobilemedic EMS and the New York State Department of Transportation assisted at the scene as well.

Route 42 was shut down in both directions from the crash site with traffic being diverted along back roads.

“Thank god no one was injured or killed,” said Sullivan County Sheriff Mike Schiff, a pilot himself.

The crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board along with the FAA.