Pilot Survives California Forced Landing

An unidentified pilot escaped serious injury Saturday when his single-engine Cessna apparently encountered engine trouble, forcing him to make a crash-landing in Watsonville (CA).

"It was doing good until the plane sunk into the mud and flipped over on its top," said Ron Hart, a battalion chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "He did an excellent job of getting that plane on the ground. As we say in the emergency services field, any landing you make is a good one."

Yeah, baby.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports the pilot was headed from San Martin Airport in Morgan Hill (CA) to Monterey when the engine began to falter. Local authorities say the pilot turned for the airport in Watsonville when the engine quit entirely.

But the pilot was unable to make the airport. Instead, authorities say he put it down in a muddy field, flipping over when the wheels sank into the muck.

Police say, once the aircraft was stopped, the pilot used his cell phone to contact local rescue workers and the FAA. "He was up, walking around and alert," said Sgt. Bill Gazza of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. "It looked scary, but he seemed to be doing OK."

FMI: http://www2.faa.gov/avr/aai/iirform.htm