Hampton Beach lifeguards and first responders push a Piper PA-18 onto the beach after it crash landed in the ocean on the afternoon of July 29. Courtesy photo/Hampton Fire/Rescue

HAMPTON – Following a mechanical malfunction, the pilot of a Piper PA-18 had to make an emergency landing; however, Hampton Beach was not an option as it was packed with beachgoers on the sweltering afternoon of July 29, which meant a water landing was the only other alternative.

Video footage shows the plane’s landing gear hitting the water thus, forcing the aircraft to flip over nose first.

According to FlightAware.com, the plane took off from Hampton Airfield and was traveling at 45 miles per hour at the time of the crash and had been in the air for one hour, 14 minutes.

According to Hampton Police, the plane landed approximately 30 yards off shore behind the Seashell Complex on Ocean Boulevard. The pilot, who has not been identified, was not injured and was helped to shore by Hampton Beach lifeguards. The plane sustained minor damage and remained afloat long enough for it to be towed to the shoreline.

“I was an eyewitness to a plane crash on Hampton Beach,” said Adam Bagni, a former reporter for WCVB-TV, in a Twitter post. “A seaplane, carrying an advertisement, tried to land in the water only a couple hundred feet off shore. It flipped upside down. Lifeguards ran out. Thankfully a man was seen swimming away from the wreckage. Like a movie.”

The incident remains under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.