A pilot and his passenger escaped uninjured Wednesday after their plane made an emergency landing on a Long Island beach — the second time the aircraft was involved in such a situation in eight years.
Video posted to social media shows the single-engine Cessna 152 gliding over the small strip of sand at Cedar Beach in Mt. Sinai just as the sun was setting over the horizon.
The plane landed safely on the sand and continued on for several seconds before the nose of the aircraft dipped into the sand, exposing the aircrafts underbelly. 4 The pilot and passenger walked away from the incident without injuries. Instagram / @victoria.calcano 4 The scene of the emergency landing on Wednesday. Facebook/George Stade
Despite the scare, the 60-year-old pilot and his passenger, 59, walked away without any injuries, according to ABC 7.
The duo had reported engine failure just before landing on the Suffolk County beach.
The controlled crash landing is the second time the plane was forced to come down on a Long Island beach in eight years, incident reports for the single-engine plane show.
Pilot Robert Keletii was teaching a first-time student to fly at 3,000 feet over the North Shore in March 2016 when the aircraft’s engine gave out.
The pair made a “forced landing” at Sunken Meadow State Park, roughly 15 miles from Cedar Beach, and both walked away unscathed. 4 Two people embrace at the scene of the crash Wednesday. Facebook/George Stade 4 The plane upended as soon as the wheels touched the sand. Instagram / @victoria.calcano
“I decided to land on the beach, save my life, that’s it,” Keletii told CBS2 at the time.
It’s not clear who was inside the plane on Wednesday.
It is also unclear where the pair had been flying from or where they were headed — the beach is 15 miles from the closest airport on Long Island, though there are several other small landing strips along the south shore.
There is also another nearby airport in Connecticut directly across from the Long Island Sound.
The FAA is investigating the incident.
