Small Plane Lands Safely in Atlantic Beach

We’re guessing everyone’s heard that a small plane landed in Atlantic Beach, on the beach at 17th Street,  Wednesday afternoon.  When we arrived on the scene at about 5:30pm we learned that the pilot and his dog had been the only occupants and were unharmed, as he’d safely landed the sputtering aircraft on the sand.  He’d given his report and had just departed.  Police tape surrounded the plane, and it had been moved to above the high tide mark.  We were told that the plane would stay on the beach overnight and be removed on Thursday.

It’s a strange sight, seeing a small airplane parked on a neighborhood beach.    The Beaches Online and the other news outlets covered the story, while neighbors and onlookers were looking at the plane and snapping photos for Facebook and friends –  and just… taking it all in.  It’s truly a relief that the situation had not ended badly.

We heard that some people had noticed the plane struggling in the air over Atlantic Beach Elementary School.  One Atlantic Beach resident told us that his construction crew on 5th Street in Atlantic Beach watched as the sputtering aircraft’s wheels came so close to the roofline of the home they were building they thought it would surely be clipped, and destroyed.  But the pilot then banked the aircraft, and brought it down ten blocks east, on the safest runway he could find: our beautiful beach.  Thank goodness.

These  Atlantic Beach girls will have a story to tell their friends at school tomorrow.