LOS ANGELES: Harrison Ford added a plane crash to an aviation record that includes both mishaps and public service.

Ford, 72, who as dashing archaeologist Indiana Jones battled Hitler’s henchmen in “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” was flying a vintage plane of that era when it lost engine power shortly after takeoff from Santa Monica Municipal Airport.

The plane crash-landed on a golf course near Santa Monica Municipal Airport where Ford houses the craft.

He was pulled from the plane and given initial help by doctors who happened to be playing golf on the course, Los Angeles fire officials said.

He was then taken to a hospital. “He had no other choice but to make an emergency landing, which he did safely,” Ford spokeswoman Ina Treciokas said. “He was banged up and is in the hospital receiving medical care.” His condition was described as fair-to-moderate.

The injuries are not life-threatening and he is expected to make a full recovery, Treciokas said in a statement. No one on the ground was hurt.

Ford, who shuns attention to his private life, has been publicly effusive about his love of flying.After arriving in his own plane at a 2001 fundraising gala for Seattle’s Museum of Flight, Ford said he was glad to help “engage kids in the romance and the mystery and the adventure of flying.

Published in Dawn March 7th , 2015

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