A pilot made an emergency landing on the sands of Huntington Beach late Thursday night, Oct. 23, after a single-engine plane suffered a complete engine failure.
No injuries have been reported following the incident. This marks the third aviation crisis in Southern California in the past three weeks.
The plane has been identified as a 1973 Cessna 172 that had departed from Santa Barbara Airport en route to John Wayne Airport around 8.30 p.m
After an hour into the flight, the pilot reported a loss of engine power and an inability to reach the intended destination.
Corbin Carson, Huntington Beach’s public affairs manager stated, “The pilot landed the aircraft on shore after reporting engine trouble and was unable to return to John Wayne Airport.”
The situation was investigated from the air by the Huntington Beach Police Department’s helicopter, HB-1, whose pilot overheard the distress calls.
The pilot of the Cessna used his visual contact with the helicopter crew and masterfully steered the aircraft towards a soft landing between Lifeguard Towers 11 and 13 near the pier at about 9.30 p.m.
“The landing was accidental and both the pilot and passenger, along with other bystanders on the beach, were uninjured,” authorities confirmed.
The plane had not been damaged during the landing, which required heavy machinery to be taken off the beach.
The crash and emergency landing are the third and fourth recent aviation accidents in the region, following a helicopter crash in Huntington Beach that hospitalized five people and an emergency landing of a plane in Long Beach on Oct. 21.
The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have also been notified and will also begin investigations into the cause of the engine failure.
