Advertisement

Harrison Ford Praised For "Beautifully Executed" Crash Landing

He’s best known for playing Han Solo, one of the best pilots in the ‘Star Wars’ galaxy. but now it seems his acting skills have been supplanted by his real-life ones.

Harrison Ford is currently in hospital after he was forced to crash land a one-seater plane on a Californian golf course, but an aviation expert has revealed it could have been so much worse for the star if he hadn’t been such an experienced pilot.

"I would say that this is an absolutely beautifully executed - what we would call - a forced or emergency landing, by an unbelievably well-trained pilot,” said Christian Fry, a spokesperson for the Santa Monica Airport Association.

- Harrison Ford ‘OK’ After Plane Crash
- Harrison Ford to return in Blade Runner sequel
- Ford Millennium Falcon injury to halt Star Wars

He hailed the 72-year-old actor’s cool-headed thinking that saw him execute a textbook emergency landing onto the Penmar Golf Course in Santa Monica.

image

Ford, who was flying alone, was forced to make the landing after his engine failed and he too far from the airport to return. The ‘Indiana Jones’ star avoided buildings, trees, and people playing golf to bring the bright yellow WW2-era plane to a stop on the golf course, suffering only minor injuries in the crash.

Eyewitness Jeff Kuprycz was playing golf at the time when he saw the aircraft coming in to land saying: “[It] banked sharply to the left” then went down.

“There was no explosion or anything. It just sounded like a car hitting the ground or a tree or something,” he added.

image

Ford has been flying planes since getting his pilot’s license in the 1990s and was in a previous air accident in 2000 when the six seater plane he was flying crashed off a runway in Nebraska.

The ‘Star Wars’ actor is currently receiving treatment for lacerations to his head, but is expected to make a full recovery.

Image credits: Sky News/PA/CBS News