SAN DIEGO - A small plane made a hard landing at Montgomery Field on Saturday, but no one was injured, authorities reported.

The incident occurred on the runway at about 2:30 p.m.

A pilot who spoke with 10News said it appeared that the pilot of the yellow single-engine Piper Cub did what is called a ground loop, which can sometimes happen with small planes that have tail wheels.

In a ground loop, the front wheels touch the ground but then for whatever reason, the pilot loses control of the back wheel and after hitting hard, the plane spins around. 

Witness Dan Arvidson, who was eating lunch while watching the planes take off and land, saw the whole thing. 

"He porpoised up once, came down and hit and you could just see the wings go and then he spun around," he said.

Arvidson said the pilot and a male passenger got out of the plane and walked around after the hard landing, so it appeared that they were OK. No injuries were reported.

A pilot told 10News the plane will probably not be flying again for some time because that vintage of Piper Cub has cloth-covered wings and the cloth was probably damaged during the hard landing.