A 24-year-old San Luis Obispo resident made an emergency landing
at the Hollister Municipal Airport when his small plane experienced
engine troubles Wednesday morning.
Hollister – A 24-year-old San Luis Obispo resident made an emergency landing at the Hollister Municipal Airport when his small plane experienced engine troubles Wednesday morning.
Nick Brake landed at about 9:45am Wednesday after an engine in the plane he was flying started sputtering and powering down about eight miles southeast of Hollister’s airport. Brake was on his way from San Jose’s Reid-Hillview Airport to his home in San Luis Obispo. He ended up maintaining an emergency landing pattern for about 90 minutes, he said.
Brake did not know precisely what happened with the engine, but he said he had intermittent power and had to throttle the engine to stay airborne.
“I had enough power to maintain altitude and I waited for the fog to burn off,” Brake said.
The pilot, flying a borrowed two-seater Cessna 150 with a 100 horsepower, single Continental engine, said the emergency landing was his first. He had about 120 hours of flight experience and said he was shaken Wednesday morning, but not enough to stay out of the sky.
“I’ll be back up as soon as the plane gets checked out,” Brake said.
Emergency crews waited for Brake in and around the airport Wednesday.
The plane could be heard – but not seen – circling in the marine layer of fog above the area surrounding the airport. It was sputtering as Brake constantly throttled the engine.
The Hollister Police Department, the Hollister Fire Department and the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office responded in case the landing went awry.
“We had minimal involvement,” Brooks said. “We were ready to shut down (San Felipe Road) if he took that approach.”
Brooks said the outcome of the emergency landing was “perfect.”
There were no other passengers, and Brake wasn’t injured. He waited for a mechanic to check the plane’s engine Wednesday morning.
