A pilot made an emergency landing on the sands of Huntington Beach on the night of Thursday, October 23, after a single-engine plane suffered complete engine failure.
No injuries were reported after the incident. This is the third aviation crisis in Southern California in the last three weeks.
The aircraft is identified as a 1973 Cessna 172 that had taken off from Santa Barbara Airport en route to John Wayne Airport around 8:30 p.m.
After an hour of flight, the pilot reported a loss of engine power and the inability to reach the intended destination.
Corbin Carson, Huntington Beach public affairs manager, stated, “The pilot landed the plane on shore after reporting engine trouble and failing to return to John Wayne Airport.”
The situation was examined from the air by the Huntington Beach Police Department’s HB-1 helicopter, whose pilot heard the distress calls.
The Cessna pilot took advantage of his visual contact with the helicopter crew and masterfully steered the plane toward a soft landing between Lifeguard Towers 11 and 13 near the pier around 9:30 p.m.
“The landing was incidental and both the pilot and the passenger, along with other bystanders on the beach, were unharmed,” authorities confirmed.
The plane was not damaged during landing, so heavy machinery had to be removed from the beach.
The crash and emergency landing are the third and fourth recent plane crashes in the region, following a helicopter crash in Huntington Beach that hospitalized five people and a plane crash landing in Long Beach on Oct. 21.
The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have also been informed and will also begin investigations into the cause of the engine failure.
