A young family has made a lucky escape after their light plane was forced to make a dramatic emergency landing on a Sydney beach.
Emergency services received a call that the aircraft had landed at Collaroy on Sydney’s northern beaches about 2pm.
The plane took off from Bankstown and was in the air for less than an hour when the incident took place.
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The pilot, 26, was flying with his 30-year-old wife and their one-year-old son when the aircraft experienced engine troubles, NSW Ambulance says.
“My husband was out on the deck and apparently he heard the plane just going glug glug pop and he goes that’s a little odd,” witness Lisa Haworth said.
The pilot successfully landed on the sand and said it was a minor engine failure that caused him to make the drastic move.
There’s no trauma, he said it was quite a soft landing.
All three people escaped uninjured.
“You could see it coming in real, real low and my mate he’s a pilot and he’s actually saying that’s going to land on this beach here,” witness Jackson Baker said.
“So we were watching it - the wings were sort of dipping each side - and then mate, it just came in.
“There were people walking along the beach and a few of them turned around last minute and sort of moved out of the way, but yeah - it was absolutely extreme, never seen anything like it before especially around here.”
NSW Ambulance Inspector Dave Stubbs said the trio was extremely lucky to land safely, and that no one was walking on the stretch of sand that became their runway.
“They were okay, little bit shaken up obviously, not the intended flight plan for them,” he said.
Recreational Aviation Australia will investigate the incident.
Watch NSW Ambulance speak to Sunrise about the landing below