Plane Lands at Huntington State Beach Parking Lot, Pilot Wasn't Injured
With the Huntington State Beach parking lot closed to curb the beach crowds, the small red plane had an empty runway to land on Monday, March 30, without the risk of colliding with the cars that would normally dot the popular spot.
The single-engine plane landed safely in the lot near Newland Street and Pacific Coast Highway.
The pilot, Jon Grazer, said he was flying to Long Beach to a practice area and to check out ships when he noticed his fuel dropping. He had a full tank when he left John Wayne Airport, so he said he knew something was wrong.
He said he had heard of the beach parking closures so thought the lot would be the best place to land.
“Everything worked out,” Grazer, a Newport Beach resident, said, noting there was a strong headwind. “There were some barricades I had to pull through and fortunately cleared those.”
The plane is an 80-horsepower experimental-build airplane, he said.
Orange Coast State Parks Superintendent Kevin Pearsall said “no one was injured, no damage was done and the plane was being removed.
“It was a clean landing,” he said.
Pearsall said the FAA was quickly on the scene to take a report.
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