image: KFDM News
The pilot of a skydiving plane faced a challenging situation after his engine died shortly after takeoff on Sunday, with a crowded Texas beach below. “I saw a truck, tent, people, a truck, tent, people… I’m like, oh gosh, we’re going to kill somebody,” passenger Robert Bertrand told the local KFDM news. The Cessna 206 was at 3,500 feet with the pilot and four passengers on board when the engine quit and oil splattered the windscreen, Bertrand said. The pilot was able to avoid all of the activity on the ground and put the airplane down safely on an empty stretch of Crystal Beach, near Galveston. Nobody was hurt, and the airplane was towed away the next day.
News reports didn’t identify the pilot, but Bertrand, who had signed up for the flight to celebrate a birthday, said he saved everyone on board, plus everyone on the beach. “This is a 50th I’ll never forget,” he said.
