Teen pilot recounts emergency landing on Ocean City bridge: 'I'm gonna go in the ocean'
Pilot Landon Lucas landed the plane on the Rt. 52 causeway after engine trouble
OCEAN CITY, New Jersey (WPVI) -- A teen pilot is recounting the chaotic moments he was forced to land his banner plane on a Jersey shore bridge after suffering engine failure while in the air.
It happened around 12:38 p.m. Monday when 18-year-old pilot Landon Lucas, who was flying for Paramount Air Service, skillfully executed an emergency landing on the normally busy Rt. 52 causeway in Ocean City, New Jersey.
"I was just sitting there listening to music and having my morning coffee. The next thing you know, I was like, 'Holy crap, I'm gonna go in the ocean,'" recalled Lucas.
He says he was making a second banner run in Atlantic City when his J-3 Piper Cub suffered complete engine failure.
"Immediately, I see my altimeter rolling down," he recalled.
He then immediately goes through the engine failure checklist.
"What was going wrong was the engine was starved of fuel from the airbox that was falling off," explained Lucas.
At this point, Lucas says he was four to five miles from the Ocean City Municipal Airport and a mile north of the Route 52 Causeway, also known as the 9th Street Bridge, which connects Somers Point and Ocean City, -- so he had to think fast.
"I had no option, she's going down, one way or another. I had the option of the water or the bridge, and I see a gap in traffic, I'm going for it," said Lucas.
The 18-year-old - who completed several certifications from Choice Aviation in Cody, Wyoming - had been trained in a lot of things, but not landing on a bridge. He went for it anyway.
"I was able to get above the cars and I just shoot down in front of them and just basically put it into a flare right in front of them. All the cars behind me, they're just seeing an airplane land on the road. I got lucky," said Lucas.
He landed the plane with no damage to the aircraft and no injury to himself or any drivers.
One of the first people he called was his mother, Rita Lucas, who lives in Wyoming. He texted a picture to her of his plane on the bridge with a police car behind it. She says she couldn't believe it when he told her about the accident.
"'Mom, you might want to check out the news. I had a little situation today.' He wasn't upset one bit," she recalled.
Drivers and bystanders heading into the city took pictures of the unusual sight.
"I was riding back to my house all of a sudden I see a plane going lower and lower and I could hear it," said witness Daniel Lepone. "I heard a loud boom and the propeller and it was really loud and I could see it just drift down slowly. It was pretty scary."
After going through something like that, some pilots may call it quits. Not Lucas.
"I'm going up (Wednesday) morning at 11 a.m.," he laughs. "With another banner, possibly the same one."
SEE ALSO: Teen pilot makes emergency landing on Ocean City, New Jersey bridge
Officials managed to recover the $6,000 banner that was released before the emergency landing.
The next time you look up in the sky at the Jersey shore and see a banner plane, who knows, it just might be Lucas in the cockpit.
The FAA and NTSB are still investigating the incident.
