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WEST JORDAN — A plane made an emergency landing in soccer fields near South Valley Regional Airport just after 5 p.m. Thursday.
"(The pilot) was prepared to land, and he had a situation where he could not make the airfield," said Steve Jackson, manager of the South Valley Regional Airport, also known as Salt Lake Municipal Airport No. 2.
The pilot, Eric Mortenson, was not injured. He said the problem with the plane was due to a sudden power failure.
"If you're higher, you have a lot more time to troubleshoot with the engine. I only had seconds to make a couple of adjustments that made a difference," Mortenson said.
His only option was to try and land in the soccer field, which was completely empty.
"Luckily I had just enough glide to get there," Mortenson said. "I was very fortunate that I was able to make it to the field."
Federal Aviation Administration investigators are expected to visit the site Friday to determine exactly what happened. South Valley Regional Airport is a general aviation airport and sees a range of pilots, from commercial to private. West Jordan officials discussed the future of the airport in 2010, a year when there were two crashes at the airport. The talks were aimed at increasing the safety of the facility.
Solutions ranged from constructing a control tower to shutting down the facility entirely. At that point, West Jordan Mayor Melissa Johnson said no action would occur for five to 10 years.
Email:wevans@deseretnews.com
