Pilot and brother discuss crash

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. (WSVN) -- A young South Florida pilot and his brother are speaking out about their scare in the air.

On Sunday afternoon, 18-year-old Juan Ortega, a private pilot, was flying a Cessna 152 back to South Florida from an air show in Lakeland when the plane's engine lost power over Hardee County, northeast of Tampa. Juan explained, "I tried to restart the engine and everything, but I had to do what is called a forced landing. I had to land in a road."

The pilot's brother, Andres Ortega, was also on board the Cessna during the mishap. Andres described his fear after the engine failure. "It was really scary. We were out there, and then, he was talking to the tower and saying, 'We have an engine failure.' I didn't know what to do," he said. "The first thing I thought was we were going to die, but then he just calmed me down, and I was sitting there, waiting to see what was going to happen."

Juan attempted to make an emergency landing on a country road, when suddenly, a power line 100 feet above the ground appeared. Juan had to glide over the power line in order to crash land the aircraft. Juan, who has been flying since he was 15, explained how his training prepared him for the incident. "In most of the training as a private pilot you will learn what is called 'engine failure training,' so I know I was trained for it, and I was doing what I was taught," he noted.

Andres recalled, "When I saw the power line in front of me, I was like, 'Oh, this is my time. I'm leaving,'" he said. "We were flying over, and then we go to the ground. That was pretty intense, when we got to the ground, because we didn't have any power, so we went right into the ground."

After the crash landing, the plane sustained damage and had to be driven back on a flatbed truck to North Perry Airport, where it remains.

Speaking in Spanish, the mother of the Ortega brothers mentioned how proud she is of Juan; meanwhile, their father expressed how afraid he was for them.

Juan considered the accident a learning experience. "By all merits, through flying, I think, is another step on the way, something to learn from," he commented. "Right now, I have almost 180 hours of flying. You always learn something. Every time you fly, you learn something."

The pilot intends to continue flying in spite of the incident. His brother, however, said he is not so sure about getting on board another plane again.

Federal investigators are trying to determine the cause of the loss of engine power.

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