Unregistered ultralight force landed in a field - Odessa, Texas

 ODESSA-"I learned how to fly this about five days ago on YouTube, that’s about it,” said Cal Pietick, the man who flew the aircraft. 

The ultralight plane landed in a field in Odessa early this evening after it ran out of gas. People say they've seen the same plane flying low over the neighborhood the past few days.

Pilots tell us you don't need a license to fly it and for this pilot, it was as easy as YouTube.

A scare in the sky near Schlemeyer Field just before 6:00 p.m. after this ultralight aircraft made an emergency landing in a field near 87th and Hollday. One little girl was playing just steps away.

"The plane was coming this way and he spun around then he came and landed and we heard a big whoosh,” said Rilee, a young girl who witnessed the landing. “The I ran to my grandmas and told her.”

“Were you scared?” “Very, I started crying,” she told CBS 7.

The man flying the ultralight said he does have a pilot's license, although DPS could not confirm that. According to Odessa pilots and The FAA, no license is needed to fly ultralights. The pilot told CBS 7 he put it together himself.

"How long you been flying?" "I learned how to fly this about five days ago on YouTube, that’s about it,” Pietick said, adding a thumbs up.

The FAA does have some rules for ultralights –that they carry no more than 5 gallons of fuel, weigh less than 254 pounds, not to fly over congested areas and not to put any persons in danger, among others.

"What did you tell the pilot?" "I told him I was scared and he said, ‘I’m sorry I scared you, I didn’t mean to’ and I said it was OK I just got really scared,” Eyewitness Rilee said.

The plane is mostly intact, a landing wheel lost to the jolt of the impact. A DPS officer said they did not think it hit anything on the way down.

“Will you fly again soon?” “As soon as I get that gear landing fixed,” Pietick said.

The FAA has been contacted and will investigate the incident; no tickets have yet been issued. It is unknown what charges or penalties, if any, this pilot could face. Pietick walked away from the landing with no injuries.

ODESSA - Sometimes you don't know what could come out of the sky. Jeremy Carson didn't. 
 
"(A neighbor) came running in the house screaming, there is a plane crashed outside and kind of disbelief, we followed her out the door and sure enough there was a plane," Carson said.

Caleb Pietsek landed his plane on Wednesday night in a vacant lot near 87th Street and Holiday in Odessa. It was a rough landing and scared some of the local neighbors but luckily there were no injuries.

"I got the plane by trading in another plane for this one and a series of other four wheelers and things like that," Pietsek said.

"The pilot was already getting out of the plane before I got to him and pulled his helmet off. He was kind of hopping around pumped up on adrenaline. I asked him if he was ok. He said, "Oh, I'm fine. I'm just glad I didn't hit a house," Pietsek said.

The plane is a light aircraft much like the plane the Wright Brothers flew in 1903. This one though, had a little engine trouble after taking off from Schlemeyer Field in Odessa.

"I experienced engine failure at about 4,200 feet at about the water tower. Well, I just did SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) and put the nose down and found a safe place to land that wasn't in anybody's house or put anybody in danger on the road and put it down in the middle of the field," Pietsek said.

DPS officials said this is out of their jurisdiction. According to officials, an aircraft this small is not registered with the Federal Aviation Administration. The Trooper on the scene did get contact information and Pietsek was left to figure out how to get a plane home.

Troopers say that if Pietsek had been intoxicated, there could have been a charge. For now, the situation rests in the hands of the FAA.

  An Odessa man said he was forced to land his homemade ultralight airplane Wednesday evening in a field off 87th Street after he miscalculated the amount of fuel he was consuming as he flew above the city. 

Pilot Cal Pietsek was not hurt in the emergency landing and no damage was apparent on his aircraft.

The landing, which happened at about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, prompted worry there had been a plane crash after a mechanic at Odessa-Schlemeyer Field saw the plane go down and called police, according to a corporal with the Odessa Police Department at the scene.

“Thank you all for coming out,” Pietsek said to a few of the officers.

In a brief interview, Pietsek explained that he calculated his fuel usage at about 1.5 gallons per hour “but I sucked down about three.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety will handle the investigation.

The landing spot, near Holiday Drive, was close to the scene of another emergency landing that happened on Oct. 26, 2012. In that instance, a 1959-model Piper fixed wing single-engine airplane ran out a fuel on its way to Odessa-Schlemeyer from Arizona, landing on 87th Street near Duke Avenue. No one was injured.

Odessa Police and Fire/Rescue personnel talk to ultralight aircraft pilot Cal Pietsek after he miscalculated the fuel consumption of his aircraft and landed in a field Wednesday afternoon near 87th Street and Holiday Drive. Pietsek was not injured during the landing.