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Teenage pilot Hero, 18, makes an emergency landing on a two-lane highway after a small plane’s engine lost power while he was taking his family to breakfast: ‘I could hear Grandma crying in the back of the back, I had to disconnect’
- 18-year-old Brock Peters crash-landed a plane on Route 66 when his engine gave out
- He was able to ignore his grandmother’s screams in the back to shoot down the plane.
- No one was injured in the incident, which occurred around 10 a.m. Monday.
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An 18-year-old was flying a small plane carrying his grandmother and two cousins when engine failure forced him to land on a two-lane highway.
Brock Peters, who had only had his pilot’s license for four months, was flying with his family over San Bernardino for breakfast Monday when he was forced to make the tense emergency landing on El Cajon Boulevard.
At an altitude of around 5,500 feet, the Piper PA-28 he was piloting lost power, forcing him to focus on shooting down the plane on historic Route 66 despite his grandmother’s distracting yells from the back of his car. the cabin.
‘I can hear my grandmother crying in the back’ told CBLA. “I’m like, ‘I’ve got to disconnect from her, focus on what I need to do and get this plane down safely and make sure everybody’s okay.'”
No one was injured during the landing, which it happened shortly before 10 a.m. on January 2 as Peters was flying from Apple Valley Airport to Riverside Airport.
18-year-old Brock Peters crash-landed a plane on Route 66 when his engine gave out
Peters (right) was flying with his grandmother, Martha Quiroga (left) and two cousins on Monday morning.
“We were going through the pass and I heard a bang and then I lose all power to my engine,” Peters said. Unable to get the engine to restart, he began looking for a place to land.
“From the air, the field right in front of me looks flat,” he said. “But once you go down, it’s trees, rocks, everything, they’re just going to wreck the plane.”
He then decided his best option was to land on the highway, but he had to guide the plane under power lines to do so.
Although the road only had two lanes, he told DailyMail.com he was not particularly worried about traffic.
“I had a car in front of me going the same direction, but they were 150 feet in front of me, so there was no factor and a car was coming towards me, but they stopped and I landed,” he said.
He explained how after landing, his grandmother, Martha Quiroga, was distraught and continued to cry.
Peters had only four months on his pilot’s license when he was forced to make the tense emergency landing on El Cajon Boulevard.
After landing, Peters was unable to use his radio, so he had to call his mother to tell her what had happened. His Piper is depicted on the side of the road.
Peters, who is a student at Victor Valley Community College and hopes to begin his Mormon mission, said his faith helped him handle the stressful situation.
“I knew it was going to land,” he said. She knew that she was going to do it. But not hitting anything, that’s God’s intervention right there.’
Unable to use his radio in Cajon Pass, he had to call his mother to tell her what had happened. She arrived shortly thereafter with her father, and the California Highway Patrol was also on hand to help.
Peters (right) explained that her grandmother (left) remained distraught for a while after they landed safely.
Peter’s flight instructor, David Andrews, praised him for a graceful landing.
Peter’s flight instructor posted on Instagram congratulating his student on the heroic landing.
‘My student is a great pilot!’ David Andrews wrote. He handled that emergency landing with aplomb and got everyone home safely.
“PS: Next time you plan to land on Route 66, don’t forget to invite me,” he joked.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board have said they will investigate the incident.