Pilot Uses Tollway as an Emergency Runway

A Hermosa Beach pilot safely landed his small plane on the nearly deserted San Joaquin Hills tollway in Laguna Niguel after it lost power Sunday evening off the coast.

Bob Atkins, 40, said he was about 4,500 feet above the ocean when his single-engine Piper Cherokee 180 lost power about 7 p.m., forcing him to look for a place to land.

Traffic on the toll road was so light that Atkins said he thought the freeway was under construction, making the northbound lanes a welcome place to land.

The pilot said he noticed a few cars on the tollway as he descended but managed to avoid them as he touched down and steered his plane onto the shoulder of the tollway just north of Greenfield Drive.

“Panic kills,” said Atkins, a pilot for 20 years. “I wasn’t panicking. I was not 100% confident I was going to be able to execute a landing without damaging the airplane or myself.... I consider myself very lucky I was able to accomplish both.”

He had taken off from McClellan-Palomar Airport in San Diego County, headed to Compton.

California Highway Patrol Sgt. Greg Saulman said Atkins was fortunate to find a highway with light traffic. He would have had more difficulty landing on nearby Interstate 5, Saulman said.

A tow truck pulled the plane off the freeway.