Teen who made emergency landing speaks out on CBSLA
Brock Peters, 18, landed a single-engine plane with family members onboard in the Cajon Pass on Monday morning. Peters spoke to CBSLA Tuesday morning.
The emergency landing happened shortly before 10 a.m. when the Piper PA-28 landed on Cajon Boulevard in the San Bernardino National Forest, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
"I'm just glad it ended the way it did, and God helped me through that one," said Peters.
The 18-year-old was flying family members from Apple Valley Airport to Riverside Airport when he heard a "pop" and decided to make an emergency landing in a safe area.
"We're coming through the pass and I hear a 'boom' and then I lose all my engine power," said Peters.
"I can hear my grandma crying in the back," he said. "I'm like 'I've got to tune her out, focus on what I need to do and get this plane down safely and make sure everybody is OK.'"
Unable to notify a nearby airport tower because of the terrain, Peters called his mom to let her know. He made the decision to bring the plane down in the Cajon Pass on a small frontage road.
"I was coming down and there was power lines that went across the road," Peters told CBSLA on Tuesday morning. "When I was coming down, I didn't see those until after I got out and checked everything out, that's when I saw the overhead power lines."
While he's loved flying ever since grade school, Peters only obtained his license four months ago.
"I knew I was going to land it," Peters said. "I knew I was going to. But to not hit anything, that's God's intervention right there."
No one was injured in the incident. The FAA and NTSB were investigating why the plane had to make the emergency landing.
