Pilot and passenger arrested after plane filled with drugs runs out of gas in Oceanside

LOS ANGELES — Two people aboard a single-engine plane that ran out of gas and was forced to land on a highway in Oceanside early Thursday were arrested after narcotics were found in the plane, police said.

The aircraft, a 1976 Piper PA-28-235, made an emergency landing near Canyon Drive on Highway 76 — a popular route that runs east-west through the North County region of San Diego County — about 1:45 a.m., Oceanside police said.

When officers searched the aircraft, they found a large quantity of narcotics, police said, although they did not disclose what type of drugs. The pilot and a passenger, who are both Oceanside residents, were arrested on suspicion of illegal transportation of narcotics, police said. Authorities did not immediately release their names.

The plane departed from an airport in Mesa, Ariz., just after 11 p.m. and was expected to land at the Bob Maxwell Memorial Airfield in Oceanside just after 2 a.m., according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website.

The pilot reported engine issues just before landing on the highway, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. But the plane's owner said the issue was actually much simpler.

Thomas Fries, whose aviation and consulting company Lead Turn owns the plane, told The Times that the aircraft had run out of gas.

"The fuel selector was on the left and the left tank was bone dry," he said.

Fries said that although his company owns the plane, it is leased to a flying club called Plus One Flyers, whose members can use the aircraft. The goal of owning the plane is for young people to learn how to fly, Fries said.

"If you're doing something nefarious, you better not run out of fuel," he said.