Plane Lost Power, Both On Board Are Unhurt

The pilot of a 1930s vintage French-design warbird was forced to make an emergency landing on Devon Beach in Sidmouth, Devon Saturday when the engine of the plane lost power while flying over the water.

The U.K. newspaper The Telegraph relays a report from the U.K.'s South West News Service (SWNS) that the pilot, 47-year-old Zac Rockey, and his passenger Trudi Spiller were returning from a commemoration of the end of WWI at Bodmin Airfield Saturday afternoon. During the return flight, the engine began to "cut out" and then failed completely. The type of aircraft was not specified.

According to the report, Ms. Spiller was waving frantically from the front cockpit of the airplane warning people on the beach to move out of the way as the plane descended. Rockey landed on the rocky beach in a textbook off-airport emergency landing. "You know what, I've had better runways. It was not ideal," he said after the landing.

Spiller said the incident left her with "jelly legs", but she had every confidence that Rockey would land the airplane safely.

The airplane was dismantled on the beach and removed. It will be delivered back to Rockey for reassembly.

(Image from YouTube video)

FMI: Original report