A WOMAN pilot whose plane crashed into the sea off the Lancashire coast today has escaped unhurt.

Liverpool Coast Guards received a call at 12.13pm to say an aircraft was in distress and was going to make an emergency landing at Blackpool airport.

But her twin engine PA30 Comanche went down near Morecambe Bay gas rig - 20 miles short of the airport.

A lifeboat was sent by the Liverpool coast guards as well an RAF search and rescue Sea King helicopter.

A boat was also sent by the gas rig, whose staff saw the plane go down.

The pilot was pulled from the water and taken to hospital.

Michael Johnstone, of the Liverpool Coast Guards, said: β€œIt’s remarkable that she survived, most sea crashes have serious consequences.

"She did a great job landing the plane and was lucky the sea conditions were calm.”

The woman had been travelling from Guernsey to the Isle of Man.