Mayday! Light Cessna Plane Crashes Into Seattle Shore before VERY GOOD LUCK 66-year-old pilot SWIMS to shore!
The 66-year-old pilot, who has not been named, managed to escape from the plane
The plane crashed into Puget Sound, near Alki Beach in Seattle on Tuesday
Video shows plane flying close to water before crashing into estuary
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A light plane made a dramatic crash landing in shallow waters just yards from a Seattle beach before flipping over with a giant splash.
The 66-year-old pilot, who has not been named, managed to escape from the sinking vessel and miraculously swam to shore without a scratch.
The small, single-engine Cessna 150 crashed into Puget Sound, near Alki Beach in Seattle, around 4:20 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.
Video shows the plane flying close to the water’s surface before crashing into the estuary, with the impact of the crash tipping the plane. The plane could be seen nose down in the water before it started sinking.
Multiple emergency services responded to the scene when photos showed the small plane’s ghostly white outline below the water’s surface.
Video shows the plane flying close to the water surface of the Puget Sound, near Alki Beach in Seattle
The aircraft then crashes into the estuary (left), with the impact of the crash tilting the aircraft. The plane was seen nose down in the water before it started sinking (right)
Multiple emergency services responded to the scene as photos showed the small plane’s ghostly white outline below the water’s surface
The small, single-engine Cessna 150 crashed into Puget Sound, near Alki Beach in Seattle, around 4:20 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.
“I put my feet in the water and then I saw the plane coming and then it flipped over and then it sank,” 10-year-old Zahra, who witnessed the crash, said. Fox 13.
A witness added: “He went down as if he knew what he was doing. He just went down and just went smooth and he just went in. He got out and just sat there.
“He’s got guts. And he was very calm, but that’s what they learn to do. I wanted to say ‘well done’, said another witness.
The US Coast Guard has established a temporary safety zone of 150 meters around the aircraft to “keep people and ships a safe distance from the aircraft.”
Officials said the plane’s owner had hired a specialist to remove the fuel from the plane to prevent an ecological disaster and to salvage the plane. Pictured: The plane is seen underwater
The Coast Guard responded to the plane that crashed near Alki Point on Tuesday afternoon
Officials said the plane’s owner had hired a specialist to remove the fuel from the plane to prevent an ecological disaster and to salvage the plane.
The pilot was taken to hospital in a private vehicle for a checkup after swimming to shore, but was not injured, according to the Seattle Fire Department.
Jeff Kaufer, a retired pilot who still flies as a hobby, saw the video of the crash and said he believes it was an emergency landing.
Kaufer told the local TV station King 5 that it looks like the plane has had an engine failure or not enough power to stay in the air.
“He did, in my best guess, the best thing he could have done, and that was put him in the water,” Kaufer said, adding that there’s really nowhere near Alki for an airplane to make an emergency landing.
“From what I hear, he’s fine and will live another day to fly,” he said.