Plane crash lands near West Brunswick High School

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A single-engine plane crash landed near West Brunswick High School in Shallotte Wednesday afternoon. There were no inuries, but pilot Steve Cheers is thankful to be alive.

Cheers is in good spirits now but just hours ago his life was on the line. He was taking out his one-seater prop plane for a joy ride Wednesday afternoon when he realized something was wrong.

He says he was at 2,500 feet when his engine quit and he had to make an emergency landing. He landed on Highway 130 just a few miles down the road from West Brunswick High School in Shallotte, just missing a power line. Fortunately no traffic was around when he landed, but the plane needed to be moved off the road. Skid marks were visible on the road where he landed and the plane was eventually moved off the highway.

Shallotte Police who arrived at the scene say it could have been much worse. They say school was close to getting out and Cheers was lucky to have avoided that.

When asked if he panicked, Cheers says as a pilot he is always prepared for the worst to happen.

There were no injuries to people on the ground or any structural damage from the crash.

The Federal Aviation Administration came out to the scene and have started an investigation.