Pilot Anastasia Vournas noticed the plane's engine sputtering and losing power before it gave out, she told independent video news agency Key News Network. At that point, Vournas knew the flight wouldn't make it to its intended destination of Whiteman Airport in Pacoima, so she searched for a spot to make an emergency landing and brought the plane down in a watermelon field.
A small plane made an emergency landing in a field near Coast Road on Saturday just north of the Santa Cruz city limits. According to Cecile Juliette, a public information officer with the Cal Fire San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit, the plane consisted of a pilot and a student and lost power over Scotts Valley, prompting an emergency landing.
A passenger was "in a fight with our flight attendant right now, trying to open the emergency exit," the pilot radioed the tower at Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids.