Wild videos show a restored World War II plane crash landing in the ocean – just feet from swimmers on a packed Florida beach.
Footage from WFTV showed beachgoers – including young children in the sea – staring calmly at the single-engine TBM Avenger that flew towards them about 20 feet from shore on Saturday.
After a brief attempt to lift higher, the plane – part of the annual Cocoa Beach Air Show – eventually crashed and splashed into the water.
“Oh my God,” one woman gasped in a clip shared on social media – while another beachgoer yelled, “Quick! Take a picture!”
No one was injured and the pilot refused medical treatment, air show officials and the local fire department told Florida Today.
“I saw a video of it – and it reminded me of what Sully was doing in the Hudson River,” said Bryan Lilley, president of the Air Show, referring to the landing of Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger “Miracle on the Hudson” in 2009.
“It was unbelievable. What a skill on that pilot,” Lilley told the Florida newspaper of Saturday’s crash landing. “I’m very glad the pilot is okay, but I’m really sorry the plane is in the water. landed.”
The plane – a torpedo bomber used by the United States Navy during World War II – had just undergone extensive restoration and crashed due to a mechanical problem, according to the Cocoa Beach Air Show.
Witness Melanie Schrader told Florida Today that people realized something was wrong because they heard the plane “splash on the beach.”
“And I was like, ‘oh it doesn’t sound right’ and I just started filming,” Schrader told the paper.
“It seemed that (the pilot) stopped at the last minute and avoided spectators,” said Schrader. “There were a lot of people on the water, and then I saw him on top of the plane. It looked like he was okay, ”she said.
The air show would continue on Sunday, Lilley told Florida Today.