Pilot Misses Power Lines, Cars in Landing on Balboa Avenue

A pilot managed to avoid power lines and heavy traffic on westbound Balboa Avenue Friday afternoon when he was forced to make an emergency landing after his single-engine plane lost power, officials said.

Pilot Arnold Hogarth of Fallbrook said he was “just lucky” that no one was injured.

He said he had taken off from Montgomery Field about 3 p.m. and had just cleared the airport fence when his black-and-white aircraft lost power.

He managed to keep the plane in the air before landing about a mile from Montgomery Field in the 7000 block of Balboa--on an overpass of Interstate 805.

Glenn Janes, an El Cajon city firefighter, was standing in a parking lot nearby when he saw that the plane was in trouble.

He said the plane clipped and broke off a stoplight for westbound traffic at Ruffin Street and dipped to avoid about a dozen electrical wires running across Balboa.

“The plane dropped to the street with the wheels still in the belly,” Janes said. “It skidded about 350 feet, with wings tipping to the right and then to the left and back again.” Janes said his immediate reaction was to look for a crushed car.

“There were cars in the street at the time, but they scattered to the left,” he said.

San Diego Fire Department Battalion Chief K.L. Rice, said, “There’s just no beating skill and a lot of luck.”

Rice said firefighters’ main concern after the plane landed was the 50 gallons of highly volatile aviation fuel on board.

Traffic was snarled for an hour and 15 minutes as authorities and Hogarth assessed the damage and prepared to tow the plane back to the airport.

Caltrans blocked the Balboa exits from Interstate 805 and diverted westbound Balboa traffic onto I-805 north, a Caltrans spokesman said.