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Crashed plane in Huntington Beach: "I heard an impact"
Photo: AP
The pilot of a light aircraft that was trailing an advertising banner crashed in front of the Californian coastal city of Huntington Beach - and was rescued without major injuries.
As the AP news agency and several US media reports, the machine crashed into the surf early Friday afternoon, right on the beach section where a junior competition for Californian lifeguards took place.
However, it was not young rescuers who swam out to the plane, but their fully trained, adult colleagues, writes AP.
The pilot was able to free himself from the cockpit and climbed onto the roof of his single-engine machine.
He was taken to the hospital with bruises.
US broadcasters showed amateur video showing the plane diving nose-first into the waves.
"I heard a crash," said a mother who had accompanied her daughter to the competition.
"One of the kids said the propeller stopped turning." According to the reports, the plane belonged to a company specializing in aerial advertising.
lov/AP
