The pilot of single-engine airplane landed safely on the beach near the Grand Avenue entrance to the Oceano Dunes state Vehicular Recreation Area.

Richard Reibel, 63, says the engine on his 1951, Mooney Mite single-seat airplane quit over the Pismo Pier, minutes after he took off from the Oceano airport Monday, forcing him to make an emergency landing around 2:30 p.m. at the Grand Avenue beach entrance, Andy Zilke, Oceano Dunes SVRA superintendent was quoted by local media sources.

“He was flying around, lost power and had to land the plane on the beach,” Zilke said.

Cal Fire and State Parks crews helped Reibel push the plane to the Dunes exit near Pier Avenue and then back to the airport where it was parked in a hangar.

“When I saw it stopped, I was concerned. You always plan on it but hope it never happens,” said Reibel quoted by local media sources.

Neither him, nor the plane suffered any damage. Dozens of walkers, kite-boarders, ATV and truck drivers that were on the sand highway at the time were not hurt.

Witnesses say they did not hear the engine of the aircraft. That is when they knew it was in trouble.

“We were coming back, and all of a sudden my wife looked up in the sky and there was an airplane cruising over the beach. I caught it the same time in my peripheral vision, and I said, 'That plane is about to land.' It was obvious, it was just gliding,” said Grover Beach resident Wayne Brandt.