San Diego : Airplane Makes Forced Landing at High School

A single-engine plane made a forced landing on Madison High School’s athletic field Tuesday afternoon.

The field, in the southwest corner of the schoolyard, was deserted when the plane landed, and both occupants of the Cessna 152 escaped injury.

Alex Rascon, director of school police, said the pilot did an “excellent job” of guiding the plane to safety, adding that it was “very fortunate” no students were on the field.

School Principal Dr. Errol Bennett, who watched the plane land, said, “I thought he was buzzing the field at first,” but it soon became apparent the plane had no power.

Tom Raines, airport operations supervisor at Montgomery Field, said the airport received a call shortly before 2 p.m. from the pilot, who reported engine trouble and said he wanted to land.

The engine apparently quit before the plane could get to Montgomery Field, and the pilot was forced to land at the high school in Clairemont.

In the Cessna were flying instructor Ray Morton and his student, Larry Lipera. Morton is a retired supervisor at General Dynamics and Lipera is an engineer there.

Morton, who said he has flown out of Montgomery Field many times, took over the plane’s controls when the Cessna started sputtering over Interstate 5. When he saw the deserted athletic field, he brought the plane down.

Morton said the plane had recently been checked by a mechanic.