ACTOR Harrison Ford made an emergency landing of his World War II plane on a Venice golf course in Los Angeles on Thursday, a strategic move that “the best pilots in the world would do,” Relativity CEO Ryan Kavanaugh said.

    The Indiana Jones legend’s plane engine experienced problems shortly after takeoff Thursday, requiring the actor to land the aircraft on an open patch of grass on the Penmar golf course. Ford was taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries directly after landing, which was followed by an outpour of support from Hollywood friends, family and fans.

    Ford was piloting a World War II vintage plane that had been restored to a high standard when he crash-landed, a federal investigator said Friday.

    Moments after Ford took off in his 1942 single-engine plane Thursday from Santa Monica Airport, he attempted a return landing, clipped a tree and crash-

    landed at nearby Penmar Golf Course, short of the intended runway, officials said.

    Aviation records list the plane as a Ryan Aeronautical ST-3KR plane, which is also known as a PT-22 Recruit. “My understanding is that it was restored and actually was an award-winning restoral,” National Transportation Safety Board investigator Patrick Jones told reporters at the scene of the crash, adding investigators plan to soon disassemble the plane and transport it to another site for inspection.

    The 72-year-old star of some of the biggest films of the 1980s is expected to make a full recovery from injuries that his publicist said are not life threatening. Prior to the crash, Ford described a problem with his plane to air traffic controllers Thursday in a brief recording later released to the media.

    “Engine failure; immediate return,” Ford said in a tense voice on the recording, before obtaining clearance to land on a runway. This is not the first crash for Ford, who also pilots helicopters. On Oct. 23, 1999, the actor was involved in a helicopter accident with his flight instructor in Lake Piru, California. (SD-Agencies)