Amazing Pics/Vid: Plane Ditches into Ocean near Florida Air Show

A photographer on a beach in Florida had a front-row seat to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: witnessing a crash landing.

Amber Ditmer was at Table Beach, just south of Florida's Cocoa Beach, setting up her camera to take maternity photos for a client when a vintage WWII aircraft came into the frame. Amber thought, at first, that the pilot was just putting on a show for the beach-goers (there was an air show going on in nearby Cocoa Beach). It didn't take long for her to realize that there was a problem.

As you can see in the photos below, the pilot did an expert job of ditching the aircraft. He was able to avoid people (it was a busy beach!), ditch close enough to the shore for easier recovery, and ditch in water shallow enough that the plane didn't totally sink.

We are relieved that no one was injured, and very glad Amber Ditmer was in the right place at the right time! Check out her pics:

There was also someone rolling video on the beach, according to Metro. You can hear that the engine on the aircraft wasn't sounding very "confident" and, soon enough, the plane goes in for a drink.

Kudos, again, to the pilot for keeping his cool and getting that plane out of the air safely. As they say in the aviation field: A good landing is any landing you can walk away from. A great landing is a landing that allows you to use the aircraft again.

Heck, drop that plane into a big bucket of rice for a few days and it should be good to go, right?