The small passenger plane that made an emergency landing on the 101 Freeway in the Agoura Hills area Monday experienced a loss of oil pressure, an Orange County flight school said Tuesday.
The aircraft, a Cessna 172, was on a training flight from Camarillo to John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana at the time of the incident, OC Flight Lessons said in a statement to KTLA.
The academy did not expand on how or why the plane experienced a loss of oil pressure, but said it is fully cooperating with the Federal Aviation Administration’s investigation to determine the cause of the emergency landing.
The flight instructor and pilot in command was identified by the academy as Capt. Trevor Peterson, who is also a U.S. Marine. He was able to take over for the training pilot to land the plane safely, Officer Craig Martin of the California Highway Patrol said Monday.
The student pilot on board was identified by the flight school only as Brian C.
No injuries were reported.
“We would like to thank the California Highway Patrol, LA County Fire Dept and all first responders that helped in the recovery effort,” the academy said. “We would like to also thank Capt. Peterson and student pilot Brian C. for remaining calm and safely landing the aircraft.”
The small, single-engine plane landed on the southbound 101 Freeway, just north of Lindero Canyon Road on Monday evening.
Eleven-year-old Tristan Nelson was in the car when he saw the small plane coming down.
“The plane started to come down and I thought it was going to crash,” he said. “But then it stopped and it landed pretty smoothly.”
The landing temporarily prompted the closure of the southbound 101 Freeway at the Reyes Adobe offramp. The plane was eventually pushed off the freeway at Reyes Adobe Road.
“I just popped over to see what was going on and by the time I got here, the plane was being pushed up off ramp,” said Deborah Klein Lopez, mayor pro tem of Agoura Hills. “They literally just pushed it right up the off ramp with their might. Thankfully everyone was OK.”
