The pilot and passenger escaped unharmed after a plane made an emergency landing on the coast of Long Island on Wednesday. This is the second time in eight years that a plane has been involved in such an incident.
Video posted on social media shows the single-engine Cessna 152 gliding across a small stretch of sand at Mount Sinai’s Cedar Beach just as the sun dips below the horizon.
The plane landed safely on the sand and continued flying for several seconds before its nose sank into the sand, exposing the underbelly of the plane.
Despite the scare, the 60-year-old pilot and 59-year-old passenger walked away without injury. According to ABC7.
The pair reported engine failure shortly before landing on the Suffolk County coast.
The controlled forced landing marks the second time in the past eight years that the plane was forced to crash on the Long Island coast, according to the single-engine show accident report.
In March 2016, pilot Robert Kelety was teaching first-time students to fly 3,000 feet over the North Shore when the plane’s engine failed.
The pair “crash-landed” at Sunken Meadow State Park, about 25 miles from Cedar Beach, but both walked away unharmed.
“I decided to land on the beach and save a life. That’s it,” Keleti said. he told CBS2 at the time.
It was not clear who was on the plane Wednesday.
It is also unclear where the two were flying from or where they were heading. The beach is 24 miles from Long Island’s nearest airport, although there are several other small landing strips along the south coast.
Connecticut also has another nearby airport directly across Long Island Sound.
The FAA is investigating the incident.
