The moment the plane TURNED BACK after crashing into the water off a New Hampshire beach, and the pilot escaped without injury
- Videos posted online show a Piper PA-18 crashing into the ocean off Hampton Beach, New Hampshire on Saturday afternoon.
- The impact sent him spinning, his tail over his nose, and caused him to rock back and forth several times.
- The pilot was able to exit the boat and swim away without injury.
Dramatic cellphone footage captured the moment a small plane somersaulted after crashing into the water off a New Hampshire beach.
Videos posted online show a Piper PA-18 slowly descending before landing in the water about 30 yards from people trying to escape the heat in Hampton Beach on Saturday afternoon.
The impact sent him overturning, tail over nose, and caused him to rock back and forth several times.
The banner he was carrying across the blue skies also broke in the sudden descent, reportedly landing on some nearby bathers, all of whom were uninjured.
Fortunately, the pilot was able to get out of the boat and swim to safety without injury. He was the only one on board the ship at the time.
A small plane plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean about 100 feet from beachgoers in New Hampshire on Saturday afternoon.
The Piper PA-18 rocked from side to side several times from the impact of the crash landing.
Thousands of people on a New Hampshire beach shortly after 12:00 p.m. were stunned by what they had witnessed.
Liane McNamara was videotaping her brother-in-law’s boogie at the time, when she noticed the plane.
“I said, ‘Wow, that’s really low,'” he recounted to the New Hampshire union leader. ‘It just kept going down. It then plummeted and flipped over.
Another bather, Gera Ocuette Jr, said WCVB he even saw the propeller stop.
The cockpit appeared to have been trapped underwater for a long time, based on the multitude of cellphone images taken from the crash, but witnesses said they saw the pilot swim away from the plane.
“He came out with his clothes, socks and shoes, and he was in shock,” Laurie Lemoine said.
“Some people were saying, ‘Is this a joke? Is this a trick?'” McNamara said. “It was very surreal.”
The unidentified pilot was evaluated by Hampton police and other first responders at the scene, but suffered no injuries and was not taken to a hospital.
Soon after, a group of lifeguards and beachgoers used a heavy rope to lift the plane out of the water.
The plane can be seen nose down in the waves after the crash on Saturday afternoon before a group of lifeguards and beachgoers helped bring it to shore.
That same group was later seen moving the plane across the sand and along the shoreline.
Hampton police said they and firefighters responded to the scene of the accident, and members of the US Coast Guard and the New Hampshire State Police Marine Patrol Unit responded to the beach.
The accident is now under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
The pilot is said to be cooperating with the investigation.
