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The plane made an emergency landing at about 4:30 p.m. in the bay in front of the Hilton Bayfront Hotel, near the San Diego Convention Center, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

Two men were reportedly on board the commercial plane, which was pulling a banner that read, "Honor our heroes," an ad for the Midway Museum.

"It went right into the water," one witness told 10News. "It hit. It impacted, kind of rolled a little bit and then we saw a head bobbing out of it. We knew someone had made it out of there."

The men were able to exit the plane on their own before the plane became submerged. Cell phone video captured from the Hilton Bayfront Hotel shows the two men in the water and then a boat comes to their aid.

Paul Purcell was one of the good Samaritans who helped rescue the men. He said he knew the plane was in trouble before it even came down.

"I saw the airplane turn from the Midway," Purcell said. "I noticed that he was losing altitude and he kept coming down lower and lower."

The FAA says the pilot of the single-engine Cessna reported engine problems and went into the water.

With the help of a friend, Purcell pulled one of the men onto his boat.

"The one guy said that he was fine that we pulled on our boat, and the other guy was getting into that other boat," he said.

The men – who were uninjured – were transferred to a U.S. Coast Guard rescue boat and cleared medical examinations. They were taken to the Coast Guard station and later went home with family.

The plane was pulled from the water early Sunday morning. It was towed to a boat-launching station in National City.