Porthcawl: Pilot walks away after plane crashes into sea

Light aircraft landed in shallow water close to a lifeboat station

The upside-down plane in the sea after crashing off the South Wales coast on Tuesday. RNLI

A light aircraft has crashed into the sea in Porthcawl, South Wales, only a few hundred metres from a lifeboat station.

Pictures from the scene on Tuesday showed the small red and white plane upside down in shallow water.

Witnesses reported seeing what appeared to be the pilot being led from the site by coastguards but their condition is currently not known.

Porthcawl lifeboat and coastguard crews were on the scene, joined by members of the police, fire and ambulance services.

In a statement, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) said it received a call-out at 9.22am and the pilot was seen by paramedics.

Witnesses reported hearing the plane’s engine “spluttering” before seeing it crash-land.

Terry Sinnett, who saw the incident unfold, tweeted: “Looks like a small aircraft has come down in Porthcawl. Pilot being attended by public but was walking. Hoping everyone is safe.”

He later tweeted: “Think I saw pilot being helped away from sea by the emergency services.

“Seems pilot has had a miraculous escape, thankfully.”

A person tweeting from Daly Design Studio wrote: "Never a dull moment in our Porthcawl office. Small light aircraft did an emergency landing in the sea 200 metres away from us! Thankfully the pilot managed to walk away unscathed."

James Brown, 75, saw the plane crash while walking on Lock’s Common, an area of land near the bay.

Mr Brown, a retired church minister, said he heard the aircraft’s engine “stutter” before the plane “swooped” into the water.

He told the PA news agency: “As I was observing the bay I could hear a fairly low noise of a plane and as I looked to the Swansea direction I saw a light aircraft.

“It was a bright red colour, very visual, and it passed me right by on the edge of the rocks. Then three or four seconds later I heard the engine begin to splutter and stutter. As I watched it, the engine died completely and then very rapidly it just swooped right down into the water.

“I couldn’t see the exact moment of the crash, but I walked over and could see it had upended, with the nose in the water and the tail sticking up in the air.”

Mr Brown described the incident as “a very near miss” and said if the pilot had landed on nearby rocks, it “would have been a very different outcome”.

Chris Page, RNLI press officer at Porthcawl, said: “RNLI volunteer crews never quite know what to expect when the call for help comes.

“We are trained to deal with every eventuality but were incredibly relieved to arrive on scene to find the pilot was able to be safely recovered.

“This was a real multi-agency effort between the fire service, the coastguard and the RNLI.”