Plane Forced to Land in Santa Clarita Field
A small plane made a forced landing in a Santa Clarita oil field Monday, coming within 20 feet of rolling off a cliff, but the four people aboard escaped unhurt.
A Cessna 172 rented at the Van Nuys Airport ran out of gas about 10 miles from the airport on the way back from Lake Havasu, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.
Pilot Todd Ellis, 29, tried to make an emergency landing in the 23800 block of Dockweiler Drive near Valle Del Oro and continued about 300 feet into an oil field between Dockweiler Drive and Sierra Highway, a spokesman said. If the plane had continued about 20 feet farther, it would have dropped into a 100-foot canyon, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.
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