During an emotional journey, 18-year-old Brock Peters crash-landed a plane carrying his cousins and grandmother on a Southern California highway, just four months after getting his pilot’s license.
While the family was flying at 5,500 feet, the plane’s engine suddenly failed.
Peters said he heard a noise from the engine and lost power soon after.
Peters, whose career goal is to become a pilot, added that he heard his grandmother crying, so he tried to control his nerves and focus on crash landing, according to CBS.
The emergency landing took place on one of the most famous highways in the United States, Route 66.
After the successful landing, Peters said his message to others was simple: “Keep calm, remember your training, and trust God.”
He said his cousins were visiting him and had planned a roughly 60-mile drive from Apple Valley Airport to Riverside Airport.
Peters continued, “There are fields under the plane, but being from the area, I know there are also rocks and trees everywhere. If it lands, we will be seriously injured and the plane will be completely destroyed.”
So Peters decided that the best chance of landing was Interstate 66, even though the cars were moving in both directions and the telephone wires were tangled.
Describing the descent, Peters said, “All I had to do at this point was slow down. It was as smooth a descent as any.”
Peters said her 77-year-old cousin and grandmother were “shocked, but unharmed”.
Peters said he called 911 and a fire truck arrived to help move the plane off the road.
