A student pilot and instructor landed safely on the Alaska Highway Tuesday afternoon after their small plane experienced engine trouble.

The RCMP received a call from the Whitehorse airport watch tower at around noon Tuesday, Const. Christine Grant said this morning.

"The pilot blew a cylinder and oil started leaking, so they couldn't maintain altitude,” she said.

The Cessna 120, a single-engine, two-seater plane, landed safely on the highway near Kilometre 1446, in the Ibex Valley area west of Whitehorse.

Neither the instructor nor the student were hurt.

There were no vehicles around at the time of the landing, Grant said.

It is unclear at this point who was behind the controls during the landing.

"It's not something you see everyday,” said Chief Bob Atkinson of the Ibex Valley volunteer fire department.

Atkinson said two firefighters were called out to the scene to help with traffic control but were turned away when they arrived.

The plane had already been pushed off the road and onto a nearby driveway.

The RCMP have sent a report to the Transportation Safety Board.

Officials with the federal department, however, say since no one was injured and the plane was not seriously damaged, it's not something they would have the authority to investigate.