Plane Crashes Into Sea During Herne Bay Airshow

Spectators have rushed into the sea to help a pilot whose plane crashed into water during an airshow. 

The aircraft from a display team hit the water in front of thousands of people at the Herne Bay Airshow in Kent at around 3.30pm on Sunday.

The plane flipped and came to rest upside down around 20m from the shore, leaving the pilot struggling to get out of the partially submerged cockpit.

The plane comes in to land on water at Herne Bay. Pic: Nigel Hancock

Photographer Nigel Hancock watched as around a dozen onlookers rushed into the water to help the pilot.

He told Kent Online: "The display team was coming towards the end of its routine, and I saw a plane coming down low and slowly, beyond the parameters of its normal flight routines.

The aircraft ends up upside down in the water. Pic: Nigel Hancock

"I thought he was in trouble, so I took a series of shots of what happened. It looked to be a textbook forced landing.

"I saw about a dozen people going into the water which was very heroic, bearing in mind the pilot was underwater and struggling to get out.

Spectators rush into the sea from the beach to help. Pic: Nigel Hancock

"If they hadn't flipped the plane over quickly it could have been a lot worse. Due to their quick actions the pilot was relatively unharmed."

An area of the beach was cleared for a coastguard helicopter to land and an air ambulance was sent to the scene. The police and fire brigade also attended.

The pilot is helped from the plane. Pic: Nigel Hancock

It is understood the pilot from the Turbulent display team and some of the rescuers may have suffered minor injuries in the incident.

The display team tweeted on Sunday: "We are pleased to confirm our pilot is safe and the aircraft intact after a decision to ditch in the sea @baypromoteam due to a problem."

The plane is pulled out of the water. Pic: Nigel Hancock

The Maritime & Coastguard Agency said: "People watching the show made 999 calls to the UK Coastguard which immediately sent the Coastguard search and rescue helicopter based at Lydd."

The Air Accident Investigation Branch has been informed.

Safety at airshows was reviewed after the Shoreham Airshow disaster last year, when 11 people were killed and 16 injured by a Hawker Hunter aircraft, which crashed into the busy A27 in West Sussex.