Strictly emergency: Plane makes impromptu landing on Blackpool beach

Police and coastguard crews were called out after the small two-seat single-engine aircraft touched down next to South Shore Promenade at around 7pm.

Lancashire Police and HM Coastguard were called to the scene, opposite Mother Hubbard’s fish and chips, and efforts swiftly got under way to rescue the plane before high tide.

It coincides with Blackpool weekend on Strictly Come Dancing - the plane landed about a mile north of the hotel in which Strictly stars and crew stay for the weekend.

A police spokesperson said: “We were called at 5:42pm yesterday (Thursday, November 16) by Blackpool Airport to a report that a plane would need to make a controlled landing. The plane, a small aircraft, landed safely on the beach and its occupants were uninjured.”

Video taken by Lisa Lou Bel, who runs holiday rental apartments nearby (On the Beach Apartments), shows the first police officers arriving on the scene as reports of the stricken plane came in. The registration details of the plane show the two-seater single-engine Robin 200 aircraft G-HIGB is managed by a flight training firm located at Blackpool Airport.

No injuries were reported as a result of the impromptu landing – just two miles from the resort's airport – and the plane did not appear to have suffered any serious damage. It was lifted off the beach by crane and transported to back to the airport in Squires Gate. An investigation is expected to take place to establish why the pilot was forced to bring the plane down onto the beach.

Second plane this year to make emergency landing on Fylde Coast

It’s the second small plane to make an emergency landing on the Fylde Coast this year. On March 23, a pilot was was forced to land in the grounds of Rossall School in Fleetwood when he ran short of fuel. Police and emergency services attended but nobody was injured.