Venice , California ( CNN ) Actor Harrison Ford was `` banged up '' and hospitalized Thursday afternoon after a 1940s aircraft he was piloting crashed during a forced landing on a golf course , his publicist said . `` Harrison was flying a WW2 vintage plane today which had engine trouble upon takeoff , '' Ina Treciokas said . `` 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 . The injuries sustained are not life threatening , and he is expected to make a full recovery . '' His son was with him 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 , '' Ben Ford tweeted . Los Angeles Fire Department Assistant Chief Patrick Butler , who would n't identify Ford as the patient , said the pilot suffered moderate trauma and was `` alert and conscious '' when he was taken to the hospital . He said the pilot , the only person on board , was in fair to moderate condition . The 72-year-old actor was in a two-seat , single-engine 1942 military trainer that went down on Penmar Golf Course near Santa Monica Airport . Patrick Jones , an investigator with National Transportation Safety Board , told reporters that the plane 's engine failed . A man who lives near where the plane came down told CNN he heard the plane in trouble . `` I heard it having problems and then he turned around , '' Jens Lucking said . `` When he was right by the house , the engine cut out and then he turned around . '' The plane clipped a tree top as it glided back toward the airport , officials said . It landed on its belly with the landing gear collapsed underneath and the left wing touching the ground . There is a mark in the ground behind the plane where the aircraft sliced into the grass . Ford had just taken off when the plane experienced some kind of problem . He was trying to return to the airport , Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said . Tom Haines with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association said he had flown with Ford in the past . `` He 's a very skilled pilot . He 's very safety-conscious and goes to training routinely for all of his aircraft , '' Haines said . Santa Monica Airport is a small facility with one runway , originally built in 1919 . But now it is basically in the back yard of a very dense beach community . There have been many complaints about the air traffic and golfers and neighbors say aircraft fly too close to homes . The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA said the plane was a Ryan Aeronautical ST3KR . According to FAA registry , the plane is owned by MG Aviation Inc . The plane was not equipped with a flight data recorder , Jones of the NTSB said . It is not the first aviation-related incident for the star of the `` Star Wars '' and the Indiana Jones film franchises . In 1999 , Ford had to make an hard emergency landing in a California riverbed while flying in a helicopter with a flight instructor . MG Aviation also was the owner of that aircraft , according to a Los Angeles Times report . He missed time during the filming of `` Star Wars : Episode VII '' last year in Buckinghamshire , England , when he broke one of his legs on the set . CNN 's Kyung Lah reported from Santa Monica and Steve Almasy reported and wrote in Atlanta . CNN 's Rosalina Nieves and Sam Stringer contributed to this report .
Man who lives near crash site says he heard plane 's engine cut off . Publicist says Ford was forced to land , will make full recovery . Fellow pilot says Harrison Ford is very skilled , safety-conscious .