The plane flipped and came
to rest upside down around 20m from the shore, leaving the pilot struggling to
get out of the partially submerged cockpit.
Spectators have rushed into
the sea to help a pilot whose plane crashed into water during an air-show.
The aircraft from a display
team hit the water in front of thousands of people at the Herne Bay Airshow in
Kent at around 3.30pm on Sunday.
The plane comes in to land
on water at Herne Bay
Photographer Nigel Hancock
watched as around a dozen onlookers rushed into the water to help the pilot.
He told Kent Online:
"The display team was coming towards the end of its routine, and I saw a
plane coming down low and slowly, beyond the parameters of its normal flight
routines.
The plane ends up upside
down in the water
"I thought he was in
trouble, so I took a series of shots of what happened. It looked to be a
textbook forced landing.
"I saw about a dozen
people going into the water which was very heroic, bearing in mind the pilot
was underwater and struggling to get out.
"If they hadn't
flipped the plane over quickly it could have been a lot worse. Due to their quick
actions the pilot was relatively unharmed."
An area of the beach was
cleared for a coastguard helicopter to land and an air ambulance was sent to
the scene. The police and fire brigade also attended.
It is understood the pilot
from the Turbulent display team and some of the rescuers may have suffered
minor injuries in the incident.
The display team tweeted on
Sunday: "We are pleased to confirm our pilot is safe and the aircraft
intact after a decision to ditch in the sea @baypromoteam due to a
problem."
The Maritime &
Coastguard Agency said: "People watching the show made 999 calls to the UK
Coastguard which immediately sent the Coastguard search and rescue helicopter
based at Lydd."
The Air Accident
Investigation Branch has been informed.
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