Plane Crashes into Pacific Ocean, Right Off Huntington Beach

It’s not just the waves crashing in SoCal’s famed Surf City — a plane slammed into the Pacific, just a few dozen yards from the beach … and the miracle here is the pilot’s condition.

The small plane went down Friday in Huntington Beach around 1:30 PM, and was so dangerously close to shore, a guy chilling in the sand captured crystal clear video of the crash.

The guy’s reaction as the plane crashed into the surf might be the most SoCal reaction ever — he yelled out, “Oh, dude!!! I have it on video!”

The fact the pilot went down so close to shore might have played a factor in his survival — you can see lifeguards immediately sprung into action. Huntington Beach city officials tell TMZ … those lifeguards were able to pull the pilot from the plane and quickly get him on land. He was not seriously injured, but went to a hospital to get checked out.

Interestingly, there was a junior lifeguard competition on that section of the beach, but they were not involved in the rescue. Can’t beat that kinda on-the-job training, though.