UPDATE (10-17-18): NTSB officials put the plane on a trailer at about 10 a.m. today and have taken it off the beach.
Earlier reporting below.
UPDATE (10-16-18): Beach Safety Captain Tammy Malphurs has now identified the pilot as 75-year=old Richard Goosman.
"The pilot advised he ran out of fuel," Malphurs added. "He was flying from North Carolina."
The plane itself will remain on the beach until at least tomorrow, when it will be picked up by the National Transportation Safety Board and delivered to the Federal Aviation Administration for its investigation.
Earlier reporting below.
Daytona Beach Shores, FL - Federal and local investigators are now trying to figure out why a small airplane crashed in the Atlantic Ocean this afternoon in Daytona Beach Shores, sending its pilot to the hospital.
The crash happened around 2:30 p.m near Larry Fornari Jr. Park on State Road A1A, according to officials with Volusia County Beach Safety.
VCBS Captain Tammy Malphurs tells us the pilot - who has yet to be identified - did not complain to first responders of any medical or mechanical issues which might have forced the emergency landing.
"He was conscious and alert at the time when he was brought in [from the plane to shore]," Malphurs added. "We have no idea what happened to him. He said he never lost consciousness. He didn't say anything about why it went down or where he was going or where he was coming from."
No injuries were reported to the pilot. He was taken to the hospital as a precaution after lifeguards found him hanging onto one the aircraft's wings following the crash.
One of the small plane's wings broke apart during the landing, which also caused a big crack in the bottom of the plane, likely from where it hit the water.
Eric Black - a beachgoer - was with his mildly autistic son in the water when the plane flew close by.
"I could see the plane coming in low," Black added. "It was coming down gradually and I was trying to get his [son's] attention because it was coming right at us. Before it got to us, the front wheel hit the water, and as soon as it did, it just kind of nose-dived in."
Malphurs says the plane hit the water away from the area where the waves break, forcing lifeguards to swim out and use jet skis and boats to reach the pilot. One of those jet skis, along with some Beach Safety vehicles on-shore, eventually brought the plane to the shore, using a rope to drag it in.
Crime scene tape soon surrounded the plane, a move Malphurs says was necessary because the Federal Aviation Administration will be sending investigators to go over the plane and determine if it had some sort of malfunction while in flight.
Those investigators are expected to arrive on scene before the end of the day, but it may take longer than that to get the plane off the sand, per Malphurs.
