Plane Lands on Freeway in Otay Mesa

Updated at 12:42 p.m.

A light plane with apparent engine trouble made a safe emergency landing on State Route 125 in Otay Mesa Friday, authorities reported.

The white single-engine Cessna 150C with a sole occupant aboard touched down shortly after 11 a.m. on the northbound side of the freeway, about a mile north of Otay Mesa Road, according to the California Highway Patrol and the Federal Aviation Administration.

The pilot reported losing power while approaching Brown Field airport in southern San Diego at the end of a flight out of Ensenada, Mexico, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.

A single lane on the freeway was closed while authorities arranged get the aircraft off the roadway, CHP public-affairs Officer Robert Catano said. It was towed away shortly before noon.

The Cessna is registered to Valley Center resident John Renquist, a commercial pilot, flight instructor, aircraft mechanic and experimental- airplane builder, according to FAA records.

In a separate incident, a Navy helicopter made an emergency landing in a park in Chula Vista last week.

– City News Service