Wild videos show how a restored World War II plane makes an emergency landing in the sea – just a foot of swimmers on a crowded Florida beach.
Footage from WFTV shows beachgoers – including young children in the sea – staring calmly at the single-engine TBM Avenger while flying towards them about 20 meters from the shore on Saturday.
After a brief attempt to soar higher, the plane – part of the annual Cocoa Beach Air Show – eventually crashed and splashed into the water.
‘Oh my God,’ one woman whispered in a clip shared on social media – while another beachgoer shouted, ‘Fast! Take a picture! “
No one was injured, and the pilot refused medical treatment, airline officials and the local fire department told Florida Today.
“I saw a video of it – and it just reminded me of what Sully did in the Hudson River,” Bryan Lilley, chairman of the air show, said, referring to Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ which landed in 2009.
“It was incredible. What a skill by that pilot, ”Lilley told the Florida newspaper of the emergency landing on Saturday. “I’m very glad the pilot is fine, but I’m sorry the plane ended up in the water.”
The plane – a torpedo bomber used by the U.S. Navy during World War II – has just undergone extensive repairs and crashed due to a mechanical problem, the Cocoa Beach Air Show said.
Witness Melanie Schrader told Florida Today that people realized something was wrong because they heard the plane strand.
“And I was like, ‘Oh, he’s not sounding good,’ and I just started filming,” Schrader told the newspaper.
“It looked like (the pilot) pulled up at the last minute and avoided any spectators,” Schrader said. ‘There were a lot of people on the water, and then I saw him on top of the plane. “It looked like he was right,” she said.
The air show would continue normally Sunday, Lilley told Florida Today.