A student pilot and his instructor were not injured after an emergency landing Tuesday evening of a Cessna 172P in a pineapple field near Costco Waipio.
The 54-year-old student pilot, Bruce Hamilton, turned over the controls of the plane to his instructor, Michael Richards of Moore Air, after the plane experienced engine trouble.
Hamilton said they had finished training and were heading back to Honolulu when the engine started sputtering at an altitude of 2,000 feet.
The plane landed when it was still light, he said.
"I had full faith in Michael," Hamilton said. "We had practiced emergency landings — just not in a field."
Hamilton said Richards "had already scoped out a field."
The Honolulu Fire Department said the pilot set down the plane at 7:09 p.m., and firefighters located the Cessna near the H-2 freeway, on the north side of Ka Uka Boulevard at 7:14 p.m.
The two left Honolulu Airport at 5 p.m. for training near Kalaeloa.
Wahiawa police received a report at about 7 p.m. Tuesday of a possible downed small aircraft in a field near the H-2 freeway.
An official at the airport said a distress call was picked up by Wheeler Army Airfield and that two people were onboard with no injuries. HFD spokesman David Jenkins said the tail number is N-65540.
A Federal Aviation Administration official said it is unknown whether there was any damage to the Cessna 172 after the emergency landing near the Ka Uka Boulevard exit at about 7:10 p.m.
The FAA Registry shows Hawaii Aircraft Leasing LLC of Makakilo owns the fixed wing single-engine aircraft.
