Plane Lands Safely on Freeway

A flight instructor and his student escaped injury Monday when they made an emergency landing in their small plane on the eastbound San Bernardino Freeway in El Monte, authorities said.

The plane inexplicably ran out of fuel during an hourlong training flight from the El Monte airport, said Greg McCone, 32, a flight student with Fleet Aviation Services and Training in El Monte.

James Fisk, 35, a flight instructor and navigator for the National Guard, said he took the controls from McCone when a fuel pressure light came on, indicating that the two-seat aircraft was losing fuel. Fisk said a visual check of the fuel tank before takeoff and the fuel gauge had indicated that the DA20 Katana had more than enough fuel to complete the training session.

When the men realized they could not make it back to the airport, they lowered the plane over traffic, slowing down to 40 mph before landing in the second lane. With a 35-foot wingspan, the aircraft took up three lanes on the freeway, but cars behind it slowed down to let it land.

“It was just like merging with traffic, except it’s in a plane,” McCone said.

California Highway Patrol officers closed the eastbound side of the freeway in the area from 12:50 to 1:10 p.m. while they helped McCone and Fisk push the 1,600-pound plane to the shoulder, said Sgt. Ralph Johnson of the Baldwin Park station.

Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration, who were on hand to examine the plane and try to determine what caused the fuel level problem, called the incident a textbook emergency landing.

“Obviously we have a competent airman, because no one was injured, the plane was unscratched and they avoided power lines,” said Clair Milton, aviation safety inspector for the FAA.

When Milton arrived at the scene, he greeted Fisk with a handshake and said, “Looks like a good landing.”

“Thanks, sir,” Fisk replied. “I’m a little embarrassed.”

Michael Marchand, chief pilot of the flight school, joined the dozen officials at the scene who shook Fisk’s hand and congratulated him on a safe landing.

“Every pilot trains for this, although we hope it never happens,” Marchand said.

As for student McCone, he repeatedly described the incident as “excellent” and said, “I knew I was getting trained from the right guy.”