
True to the heroes he plays on the big screen, a calm and collected Harrison Ford glided his airplane into a crash landing on a Venice, California golf course Thursday afternoon.

Moments before the crash, in audio of his conversation with air traffic control, an unemotional Ford can be heard asking for an emergency landing because his engine had failed.

The 72-year-old actor who has been a licensed pilot for nearly two decades, was not going to be able to make the runaway at Santa Monica Airport so he picked a long green at the nearby Penmar golf course to land out of the way of the congested neighborhood.

After plunging 3,000ft and hitting a tree on the way down, Ford was rushed from the scene bleeding heavily from a head wound.

His injuries - a broken arm and a nasty gash to his head - were described only as 'moderate' and he is expected to make a full recovery.

'At the hospital. Dad is ok. Battered, but ok! He is every bit the man you would think he is. He is an incredibly strong man,' his son Ben Ford tweeted just two hours after the crash. 'Thank you all for your thoughts and good vibes for my dad.'

Ford's publicist Ina Treciokas said the actor had no other choice but to make an emergency landing.

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Crash land: Actor Harrison Ford was rushed to the hospital on Thursday after crashing a vintage plane on a Venice, California golf course

Engine failure: In air traffic control audio, a clam Ford said that his engine failed as he asked for permission to land. He didn't make it to the airport, and instead landed at nearby Penmar golf course

Hospitalized: Authorities initially reported that Ford was taken to the hospital in critical condition, but his condition was later downgraded to fair to moderate

Ford crashed into the Penmar golf course (left) after appearing to veer off course from the runway (right) in order to avoid homes in between

In a statement, she said: 'Harrison was flying a WW2 vintage plane today which stalled upon takeoff. He had no other choice but to make an emergency landing, which he did safely.

'He was banged up and is in the hospital receiving medical care.'

She added his injuries 'are not life threatening, and he is expected to make a full recovery.'

The fact that Ford escaped the crash with just a few injuries is not surprising to those who have flown with him.

Ford first started flying in the 1960s, but didn't have the money or time for regular lessons until later in life - becoming a licensed pilot in 1996.

Seasoned aviator: Ford, who has been flying planes since the 1960s, was the only person in the plane at the time of the crash

Crash site: Firefighters who responded to the crash scene say Ford was alert and conscious when they pulled him from the World War II-era plane

Maneuvering: Ford's struggling plane is seen above just moments before it crash landed at the golf course on Thursday

Full recovery: Ford was rushed from the scene bleeding heavily from a head wound, his injuries were described only as 'moderate' and he is expected to recover fully. Pictured, an aerial view of the crash

'Harrison's been a great pilot. You can see by the fact that he survived this forced landing that he is a skilled aviator,' Paul Mitton, who produced a documentary about Ford's love of flying, told CNN.

'Just looking at the crash site, you see the trees nearby there's a tree not too far behind the aircraft.

'Had the wing clipped that, the airplane could have spun around, he could have been ejected, he could have ended up upside down. That would have been bad,' Mitton added.

Aviation expert Rick Dake told People that Ford's landing was amazing considering the unforgiving nature of the World War II-era plane.

'Everything he did was perfect,' Dake, of Aviation Consulting Experts, told People.

Taken to local hospital: The father-of-five is reportedly sustained 'head injuries' and was seen on a gurney on Thursday

Wreckage: Ford crashed just before 2.30pm PT. Investigators are searching for clues to the failed flight

He says less-experienced pilots training on the plane during World War II would often crash because the plane tended to flip when the engine fails.

'That alone is testament to the great ability Harrison Ford had. He made a 180-degree turn with the engine seizing up on him. He almost made it to the runway,' Dake said.

'He was able to keep that plane away from the houses and land it with the least impact on the community. That was the best place he could have landed it.

'He was 100 per cent doing exactly what an excellent aviator would do.'

Witness Ryan Harris called the landing a 'masterful feat of airmanship' in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

'There are about eight trees nearby, and he put it down without hitting any of them,' Harris said.

The crash happened just before 2:30pm PT, shortly after Ford took off from Santa Monica Airport alone in the two-seater vintage airplane.

Injury prone: Thursday's crash comes just months after Ford, 72, was airlifted from the set of the new Star Wars movie for an ankle injury. Pictured on the left at a film premiere in October 2013, and with wife Calista Flockhart at the 2014 Academy Awards on the right

Doing well: Ford's son Ben Ford tweeted around 5pm PT that his father is doing fine at the hospital, with a few injuries

After take-off Ford called back to to the air traffic control tower, saying his engine had unexpectedly died and he needed clearance to land.

The air traffic controllers gave Ford permission to return to the runway - but the actor's plane couldn't make the journey. Instead he glided the plane down onto a green at the local golf course.

One witness, who was golfing at the time, said she watched the small plane perform a 'nose dive straight on the 8th hole tee box.'

The woman, who says he was one of the first people to rush towards the scene, told TMZ that 'four or five removed the pilot from the plane.

'They were concerned it would catch on fire,' she told TMZ.

She added the actor 'was conscious, talking a little' but had a deep gash on his head.

'A swath of his skin was missing,' she said. 'There was blood dripping down his face.'

Twitter user Alex Miller posted that his mother was golfing on the hole where Ford crashed and rushed to aide the actor who 'seemed ok'.

Golf course employee Howard Tabe told NBC News: 'There was blood all over his face. ... Two very fine doctors were treating him, taking good care of him. I helped put a blanket under his hip.'

Spine surgeon Sanjay Khurana was on the seventh hole of the golf course when Ford’s plane clipped a tree.

He immediately dropped his clubs and ran to help. With the help of fellow golfers, he pulled the actor from the wreckage after noticing fuel leaking from the plane.

History: This isn't the first time Ford has crashed an aircraft. He crash landed a helicopter in 1999 during a training flight. Ford and his instructor were only minorly injured in the crash

Sputtering noise: Witnesses heard Ford's plane make a sputtering noise before he crash landed on the golf course Thursday afternoon

Older model: It's believed Ford was flying a Ryan PT-22 Recruit - a plane used to train pilots in World War II

Expert flyer: Friends who have flown with Ford described the actor as a careful and experienced pilot. However, this isn't the first time Ford has been involved in a crash.

HARRISON'S BRAVADO EQUALS THAT OF HAN SOLO AND INDIANA JONES Harrison Ford is as much the daredevil in real life as Han Solo, Indiana Jones or the other larger-than-life characters he's played on the screen. While his fictional adventures in "Star Wars" and as bold archaeologist Jones have thrilled audiences, the star has run into real-life danger - and sometimes pain - while indulging in his love of aviation, fast driving and the unpredictability of filmmaking. On Thursday, the actor's vintage plane crash-landed on a golf course in Los Angeles shortly after taking off from a nearby airport. Ford, 72, who had reported engine failure to air-traffic controllers, suffered moderate injuries and was taken by ambulance to a hospital. Beyond joy-riding in the skies, Ford also employs his skills as a pilot, acquired in his mid-50s, to help in search-and-rescue efforts. Here are a few of his closer brushes, some more dramatic than others, as well as heroic moments: Ford is best known for his brave film characters Han Solo (left) from Stars Wars and Indiana Jones (right) The scar on his face that lends him a rakish look was earned, he's said, in "a mundane way." In 1964, he was speeding to a job at a department store in Orange County, California, when his car veered off the road and into a telephone pole as he fumbled for his seat belt. In 1999, Ford crash-landed his helicopter during a training flight in which he and an instructor were practicing auto rotations in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles. Ford and the instructor were unhurt. He used his helicopter in 2000 to pluck an Idaho Falls, Idaho, hiker off 11,106-foot Table Mountain in Teton County, Wyoming, and fly her to a hospital. One year later, Ford and another searcher helped find a missing Boy Scout in a forest south of Yellowstone National Park. "Boy, you sure must have earned a merit badge for this one," said Ford told the cold and hungry teenager after whisking him to safety by chopper. Ford was at the helm of a Beechcraft Bonanza in 2000 when wind shear forced him to make an emergency landing at Lincoln Municipal Airport in Nebraska. Ford and his passenger were uninjured when the plane clipped the runway and its wing tips were damaged, officials said. Last year, he was filming "Star Wars: Episode VII" in a studio outside London when a door of Solo's Millennium Falcon spacecraft fell and broke the actor's leg, requiring surgery on it. He recovered and returned to complete his work on the movie. (Associated Press) Advertisement

'We wanted to get him out safely and with the fuel leaking out, I motioned to some of the other folks at the golf course to put dirt on the fuel so it wouldn’t combust,' Khurana told CBS.

But it wasn't until Ford was taken out of the plane that the surgeon realised who he was helping.

'He was a very familiar face. Kind of somewhat of an iconic face,' he added. 'And yeah, I did recognize who he was.'

It was initially reported that the actor was in critical condition, but that was later downgraded to fair to moderate condition. Reports say Ford suffered lacerations to his head and possible fractures.

The car belonging to Ford's wife Calista Flockhart was seen parked at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica.

Patrick Butler of the Los Angeles Fire Department says he's responded to plane crashes in the area before and says Ford is lucky to be alive.

'Normally the outcomes are fatalities so yes we are very thankful that the passenger, from what we hear right now, had moderate injuries,' Butler said.

Butler said it appears Ford strategically picked the golf course to steer clear of people on the ground.

'It's an area that probably presented the least amount of impact to the community,' Butler said.

A reporter for Daily Mail Online was at the scene and said the gold course lawn was littered with wheel parts, snapped tree branches and medical equipment used to treat Ford at the scene.

The nose of the plane was completely destroyed and embedded in the ground, the left wing completely broken and the right wing smashed where it hit a tree.

THE RYAN PT-22 RECRUIT: THE HISTORY OF FORD'S VINTAGE PLANE Harrison Ford seen flying his Ryan PT-22 plane in September 2013 Ford was flying a Ryan PT-22 two-place open cockpit trainer - one of hundreds manufactured during World War II to train US military pilots. Built in 1942, the vintage yellow plane is a Ryan Aeronautical ST3KR, with a 160-horsepower radial engine and a top speed of 131 miles per hour. It was retired by the military after the war, and eventually fell into disrepair, according to a 2008 feature in AOPA Pilot magazine. It was acquired in 1992 by an Illinois design engineer as a restoration project, and went on to win the prize for best antique airplane at Oshkosh, the world's biggest air show, in 1998. It then went on to be sold to a new owner shortly afterwards, and is currently registered in the name of a Delaware company, according to FAA records. A number of PT-22 are on display, including at the National Museum of the United States Air Force and the Air Combat Museum. Several models of the aircraft remain in flyable condition - and it remains a popular plane to fly for sport.. Advertisement

Patrick Butler of the Los Angeles Fire Department says he's responded to plane crashes in the area before and says Ford is lucky to be alive

The assistant fire chief said it appears Ford strategically picked the golf course to steer clear of people on the ground.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Patrick Jones speaks to reporters at a press conference Thursday evening. He says an investigation into what caused the crash may take several months

Briefing: The actor is now in a 'moderate' condition'. Pictured, Los Angeles Assistant Fire Chief Patrick Butler led a press conference at the scene of Ford's crash

Investigation: The National Transportation Security Board will investigate the crash in a process that could take up to a year. Pictured, an aerial view of the moment after the crash

The golf course is just a block from the tarmac at Santa Monica Airport, where Ford keeps his collection of planes.

Neighbor Carlos Gomez, 39, told Daily Mail Online that he witnessed the aftermath of the crash.

'I didn’t [know] who he was. I just saw the guy in the plane and people try to help him and pull him out of the plane,' Gomez said. 'He was on the ground and then the guy started moving and I was like good he is alive.

Carlos said he didn’t hear engine trouble.

‘I just heard the big noise [The crash].'

Witness Cynthia Madrid told local news outlets that it looked like the plane's engine was 'sputtering' on and off while it was flying towards the beach.

Madrid says she saw the plane start to go down but noticed there was no smoke.

Ford was flying a Ryan PT-22 Recruit - a plane used to train pilots in World War II.

The National Transportation Security Board will investigate the crash in a process that could take up to a year before a final report.

NTSB investigator Patrick Jones said: 'we're going to look at everything: weather, man, the machine.'

Thursday's crash comes just months after Ford was airlifted from the set of the upcoming Star Wars movie after suffering an ankle injury.

Friends who have flown with Ford described the actor as a careful and experienced pilot. However, this isn't the first time Ford has been involved in a crash.

NEVER FLY SOLO, HAN! FORD WILL BE FINE, SO HERE COME THE MEMES... As soon as reports confirmed Harrison Ford is expected to make a full recovery, fans took to Twitter to inject some humor into the situation, making references to his most famous roles. Star Wars co-star Mark Hamill set things off with a 'get well soon' message to his friend after the actor's crash landing on a Los Angeles golf course. 'May all his future flights be green-screen!,' tweeted the 63-year-old actor who plays Luke Skywalker in the film franchise. And fans of Star Wars followed suit, posting pictures alleging Ford had actually crash-landed the Millennium Falcon, the ship flown by Ford's character Han Solo and Wookie co-pilot Chewbacca. Another fan posted Chewbacca's statement in his response to the crash. 'Uuuuuuuuur Ahhhhrrrrr Urrrr Aaaarhg,' said the Wookie. One Twitter user adopted the weasel from an incredible picture that went viral this week to make a hilarious meme, captioned: 'Air crash investigators think they've found the cause of #harrisonford plane crash'. The original, taken by photographer Martin Le-May, showed a weasel hopping a ride on a woodpecker - but this time, he's aboard the actor's plane. Chewbacca's statement on the Harrison Ford plane crash pic.twitter.com/2RAirHjTcs — Darth Vader (@DepressedDarth) March 6, 2015 Star Wars fan Iwan Thomas posted pictures on Twitter purporting to show the moment the Millennium Falcon crashed into the golf course One user incorporated the weasel, whose was pictured riding a woodpecker earlier this week, to make this hilarious meme Advertisement

Pilot: Ford knows how to fly both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Pictured above flying what appears to be the same vintage plane last month

Broken leg: The star injured his ankle on the set of Star Wars this summer and fixed the shattered limb with metal plates. Pictured recuperating from his injury and walking with the help of hands-free crutches in late August

During a routine training flight in October 1999, a helicopter piloted by Ford crashed near Santa Clarita. Ford and his instructor escaped the crash with few injuries, but the helicopter was seriously damaged.

While Ford keeps most of his aircraft at Santa Monica airport, he does fly at his 800-acre ranch in Jackson, Wyoming.

He has twice assisted local search and rescue teams with his helicopter, including one instance in which he picked up a hiker who became dehydrated.

The female hiker vomited as soon as she got into the aircraft, and didn't realize the pilot was Ford until later.

'I can't believe I barfed in Harrison Ford's helicopter!' she later said.