WWII-era plane makes an emergency landing just yards from swimmers on busy Florida beach after experiencing mechanical fault during air show
- TBM Avenger seen making ‘soft’ landing in shallow water south of Cocoa Beach
- Footage shows plane swooping low before coming to a skidding halt in ocean
- The single-engine torpedo bomber was hit by mechanical fault to its propeller
This is the moment a World War Two-era plane made an emergency sea landing in the water off a busy Florida Beach.
The single-engine TBM Avenger is seen making a ‘soft’ landing in the shallow water south of Cocoa Beach in video filmed by a bystander.
Footage shows the plane swooping low before coming to a skidding halt in the ocean not far from where people were swimming, sending spray spurting into the air.
No one was injured in the incident, which came after the plane suffered a mechanical fault while taking part in the Cocoa Beach Air Show.
Footage shows the plane swooping low in shallow waters south of Cocoa Beach in Florida
Pictures taken after the landing show the plane floating in the water after the pilot safely got out.
‘The TBM Avenger performing in the warbird parade had a mechanical issue and the pilot was able to bring the plane down close to the shore. Rescue Personnel were immediately on scene and the pilot is okay,’ Cocoa Beach Air Show said in a statement reported by Florida Today.
The plane’s propeller can be seen not working in a video filmed by onlooker Melanie Schrader.
‘It looked like (the pilot) pulled up at the last moment and avoided any spectators, there were loads of people on the water, and then I saw him on top of the plane, it looked like he was okay,’ she said.
‘He was sputtering down the beach and was like ”Oh, he doesn’t sound good” and just started filming.’
The air show continued today.
No one was injured in the incident, which came after the plane suffered a mechanical fault while taking part in the Cocoa Beach Air Show
The plane comes to a skidding halt in the ocean not far from where people were swimming, sending spray spurting into the air
Pictures taken after the landing show the plane floating in the water after the pilot safely got out
The TBM Avenger is an American torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps.
It entered service in 1942, with pilots flying the model taking part in the Battle of Midway.
In 2019, seven people died and seven more injured when a B-17G Flying Fortress bomber went down at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut.
The aircraft with 13 people aboard crashed on October 3 after encountering mechanical trouble on takeoff from Bradley International Airport.
Five passengers who had each paid $450 to fly aboard the aircraft, as well as the pilot and co-pilot, were killed while the others were left with serious burns.
The four-engine, propeller-driven Flying Fortress struggled to get into the air and slammed into a maintenance building at the airport near Hartford as the pilots circled back for a landing, officials and witnesses said at the time of the crash.
The TBM Avenger is an American torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps.
In 2019, seven people died and seven more injured when a B-17G Flying Fortress bomber went down at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut
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