The impressive emergency landing of a WWII plane on a crowded beach

A WWII plane participating in the Cocoa Beach, Florida air show made an emergency shallow water splash on a crowded beach yesterday. Fortunately, the pilot and everyone at sea at this point are doing well.

Images shared on social media show A single-engine TBM Avenger glides low over the upper ocean in shallow water before deftly descending. In fact, the plane seems to be in control all the time, which turned the emergency into a spectacle.

Kinley Robinson was on the beach at the time and said that after the pilot got ashore people cheered him on and thanked him for not harming anyone on the beach or in the water. “It’s crazy today. I have pictures of the plane that crashed during the Cocoa Beach Air Show. The pilot managed to land it without anyone being injured, ”he wrote on his Twitter account.

After the incident, people immediately started jumping into the water and crowding the plane, while firefighters and first responders helped the pilot reach shore.

On their Facebook page, the air show organizers explained that the plane had a problem: “The TBM Avenger participating in the warbird parade had a mechanical problem and the pilot was able to descend the aircraft close to shore. Rescue personnel went to the scene immediately and the pilot is fine ”.

The TBM Avenger is a torpedo bomber which It was used by the US Navy during WWII. According to the Cocoa Beach Air Show website, the incident plane underwent a full restoration before flying again last year. After retiring from the Navy, the ship was used as a US Forest Service fire bomber from 1956 to 1964 in Davis, California. The “warbird” was also used as a bomber for the Georgia Forestry Commission, according to the Valiant Air Command website.

The 1945 TBM Avenger was restored for 18 years by Titusville-based Valiant Air Command, which returned the vintage torpedo bomber in January 2020.

“I saw a video of him and it got me thinking about what Sully did on the Hudson River,” said salon chairman Bryan Lilley, referring toThe 2009 emergency water landing of US Airways flight 1549 in New York City by pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger. Both engines were disabled by a bird strike, and all 155 people on board survived.

“It was amazing. What a skill of this pilot,” Lilley said of yesterday’s landing in the waters of Cocoa Beach. “I really feel bad for them. They just restored this (plane). They spent a lot of time on it, ”said Lilley, referring to Valiant Air Command. “I am very happy that the pilot is doing well, but I am very sorry that the plane ended up in the water.”

PHOTOS: @kinleyrmedia

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