An 18-year-old pilot was forced to make an emergency landing Monday on an old alignment of Route 66 in the Cajon Pass area of southern California.
KTLA reports:
Brock Peters, 18, says he was shuttling family from Apple Valley to Riverside Municipal airport for breakfast when he heard a pop from the engine while flying over Cajon Pass.
“At that point I didn’t have any space or time to get to any other airports and this was my only option, my only shot to get it down,” Peters told Inland News.
Peters guided the plane underneath power lines and landed safely on Cajon Boulevard near Matthews Ranch Road.
No one was injured among the four people aboard. The Piper single-engine plane sustained no damage.
Inland News was among the first to get a photo of the plane after it landed:
An 18 year old Pilot safely put this plane down on Cajon Blvd after a mechanical issue. He tells us he relied on his training to keep everyone onboard safe. #CajonPass pic.twitter.com/pEpLoKLjfg
— INLANDNEWS (@INLANDNEWS) January 2, 2023
Cajon Boulevard (aka Route 66) runs roughly parallel to Interstate 15 in the San Bernardino Mountains above San Bernardino, California. It was Route 66 from the 1940s to about 1974, and it still is open to traffic.
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