Plane makes emergency landing in field off Highway 10 Monday

NEWTON, N.C. — Flight student Eric Mathis, 16, said he got the scare of his life after he took to the skies for a day of training.

"We just practiced engine failure like two minutes before this happened," said Mathis.

His instructor, Bradley Bormuth, said they felt the plane's engine give out after their first training session. As he took over controls of the plan from his student, they both lost engine power 500 feet off the ground.

"At the end of one we tried to give it full power to climb back up and unfortunately, the engine did not give it to us," said Bormuth.

Both student and teacher than ran through their emergency checklists, this time for real.

"I was hoping Bradley could land it," said Mathis.

Eyewitness News cameras were there right after their plane landed on the side of the Highway 10 with no power. Both were thankful it was not worse.

Mathis said he was supposed to have his first solo flight next week, but after Tuesday night, he said he will not be doing that for a while.

WSOC