Standing in his district office in Queens, with only one cut under his chin, he says he and a friend took off with his single-engine Beechcraft from Brookhaven Airport around 2 p.m.
"I went up to practice some maneuvers, and, you know, it was a nice day, it was pretty clear out, so I went over the water," Vanel said.
Then all of a sudden, the plane's engine lost power.
"Of course I was panicked. I didn't understand what was going on with the engine," Vanel said.
But he says his emergency training kicked in.
"Airspeed, find the best place to land, communicate and then exit," he said. "The best place for me to land was a small area that had beach that wasn't around people, that wasn't around stuff."
Caelyn Canace was the only one on the beach at the time and captured the dramatic moment on video.
"So I'm standing by the stone hoping, how do I save my life?" she said.
She says she ran over to help.
"Thank God they were in one piece, no visible fractures, no physical injuries," Canace said. "I was like, 'You guys OK? OK?' And you could see they're in shock. We're all in shock ... I think he landed very nicely. I think he did a good job."
Vanel says he went to aviation school and has been flying for years. He's happy the only casualty was the aircraft.
"Really blessed that the FAA training program trains folks on what to do during emergency procedures, so if you follow that, chances are you can come out with a good outcome," Vanel said.
The assemblyman says he's looking forward to getting back up in the air, but right now, he's just happy to be on solid ground, alive.
In the meantime, the FAA is investigating the crash.
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