PRIVATE PLANE on the sand in Huntington Beach (HBPD photo).

“Mayday! Mayday” called the pilot of a small private plane when its engine lost power and began to shut down on Monday afternoon in the skies over Huntington Beach.

The pilot, Mike Bremmer, with no better place to land, set his aircraft down on the sand of Huntington State Beach just south of Magnolia Street at around 2 p.m.

Both occupants of the aircraft – Bremmer and his nephew – were not injured and exited the plane safely. Huntington Beach police and fire responded to the scene.

The airplane had taken off from John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana bound for Van Nuys when the engine cut out requiring what a witness described as a ‘perfect landing.”

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have been contacted and will conduct investigations.