Santa Ana Pilot Lands on San Jose Onramp

A pilot from Santa Ana dodged a high school, homes and motorists to make an emergency landing on Highway 87 near San Jose during rush hour Monday night. No one was injured, and his plane was unscathed.

The pilot, 57-year-old William Hart, said he was on his way from Orange County to San Jose on a computer sales business trip when the engine of his Beechcraft Bonanza airplane developed a fuel-release problem called engine vapor lock.

“All you think about is doing what you were taught to do. I tried to restart the engine but that didn’t work and then I started to find a place to land,” Hart said.

He radioed the airport that he would not make it there, then brought the plane down on a northbound highway onramp around 6:15 p.m. about 1 1/2 miles from the airport. Hart said he landed where he chose that side of the freeway because most of the rush-hour traffic was in the southbound lanes.

“I had to maneuver around a building and I saw I was not going to make it . . . and I saw the best place to land was the freeway,” Hart said. “But there were so many cars so I landed on the onramp.” Associated Press