Piece from Aircraft Impacts Venetian Shores Beach

It seemed as if the sky were falling this afternoon at when a small piece from an aircraft flying over the beach fell, impacting the sand next to several beach-goers.

"A small piece of a plane fell onto the beach at Venetian Shores…No one was struck," said Suffolk Police, who responded to the incident along with Town of Babylon Public Safety and the FAA Flight Standards District Office, located in in East Farmingdale.

“Thankfully, no one was hurt, and there was no property damage,” Tim Ruggieri, spokesperson, said. “It’s in the FAA’s hands now.”

Initially, there was some confusion as to whether Republic Airport or FAA officials responded, but according to Republic Airport Rep Gary Lewi, "It wasn't us. The FAA Flight Standards District Office responded. They’re located in our building, so that may explain the confusion of who went to the beach. FAA has jurisdiction over something like this."

There’s no word yet from the FAA as to what the piece was or where it originated. It collected the piece to further investigate.

According to , manager of the Venetian Shores Sprinkler Park on the east end of the Great South Bay beach, it fell next to three women who were staked out near two trash cans on the east end of the beach.

The women, McCandless also confirmed, weren’t harmed, but the piece was substantial enough to leave quite an impact in the sand.

“The women were in front and went over and picked it up,” he said.

He described the piece as something that looked like it could’ve vibrated off a small plane.

“It was a heavy piece of metal,” he said. “But the plane kept going.”

No one else outside the small area where the women were sitting was even aware of what happened until authorities were called, said McCandless.

“When the police got here, then people started picking up on what happened,” McCandless said. “Public safety, Suffolk Police, park rangers and the FAA were all here. It was a fast response.”

After the authorities left, McCandless and his crew raked the sand to cover the hole where the piece had been. They also discovered a piece of old dock that the impact had uncovered. The crew removed that, too, said McCandless.

And beach-goers went back to sunbathing, boating, jetskiing, playing in the sprinkler park and later beginning to file into the , managed by L Thompson, to hear local country band Southbound perform.