Queens Assemblyman Clyde Vanel lands a plane on Long Island beach

On Friday afternoon, Queens Assemblyman Clyde Vanel landed a small plane he was piloting on a Long Island beach in a chilling scene that was captured on video.

Vanel told CBS 2 that he and a friend took off in his single-engine Beechcraft from Brookhaven Airport around 2 p.m. “to practice some maneuvers” in good weather.

Suddenly, however, a pleasant day in the sky turned to terror when the plane’s engine lost power.

“Of course I was freaked out. I didn’t understand what was going on with the engine,” Vanel said.

But Vanel regained her composure and said her emergency training had begun.

“Airspeed, find the best place to land, communicate and then exit,” he said. “The best place for me to land was a small area that had a beach that wasn’t around people, that wasn’t around stuff.”

Only one woman was on Shoreham beach at the time – Caelyn Canace, who captured the stunning landing on video, obtained by CBS 2.

The dramatic footage shows the plane descending rapidly before landing on its belly on the sand.

It slides several feet before crashing into the water.

Canace said neither of them appeared to be seriously injured. Speaking with CBS, Vanel only had a small cut under her chin.

“I was like, ‘Are you okay guys? OK?’ And you could see they were in shock. We’re all in shock…I think he landed really well. I think he did a good job,” Canace told the outlet.

Vanelle, who went to aviation school and has been flying recreationally for years, said he was glad the only casualty was the plane.

“Really blessed that the FAA training program trains people on what to do during emergency procedures, so if you follow that, chances are you can get a good result,” said Vanel said.

He said he hopes to get back into the air soon.

The FAA is investigating the accident.