Small plane lands on beach near Eastham, Wellfleet – NBC Boston

It was a shocking sight when a small plane was forced to make an emergency landing on a busy Cape Cod beach on Sunday.

According to the Eastham Fire Department, the plane was forced to land on the beach between Nauset Light Beach in Eastham, Massachusetts, and Marconi Beach in Wellfleet.

None of the three people on board were injured in the incident, the fire department said.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) added in a statement that the pilot of the single-engine Cessna 172 reported an engine problem before landing at Coast Guard Beach in Eastham at around 3:45 p.m.

It was quite a spectacle for beachgoers on Father’s Day.

“It’s kind of crazy to see it like this,” Michelle Connors said.

“This is definitely not what we expected,” said Josie Uecker. “We just arrived in town today, we’re from Kansas City, we’re here on vacation and we want to get to know the area, and we found this!”

According to the FAA, the aircraft is registered to Cape Aerial Tours and Stick’n Rudder Aero Tours in Chatham.

Emergency crews on the scene said the plane was towed about a mile down the beach toward the driveway to pull it out of the sand, but it was a race against time and the tide to get the plane off the beach. Part of that process was removing the wings to get the plane through the dunes.

“I know it takes about four people to remove each wing,” said Hanna Dubey of Capeway Towing in Hyannis.

She says they have been asked to send trucks to Cape Town to help.

“We are tasked with towing it from the beach to the airport. I’m pretty sure that’s where it’s going,” Dubey said, adding that she didn’t expect to see anything like this during her workday. “The wow factor of seeing an airplane on the beach doesn’t happen often. Or actually, never.”

NBC10 Boston has contacted the company that registers the plane, but we have not yet received a response.

The FAA continues its investigation.