The pilot did very well. From what I can remember about the beach at Shoreham, its quite a steep shingle bank, but there are groynes at about 5Oyd intervals running down to the water. Each groyne consists of a line of posts about 1 foot square supporting large planks. The build up of shingle against the groynes can be maybe 3 feet, so hitting one of them can make your eyes water.
Wasn't there another incident within the last 2-3 years of a Piper????? forcelanding on Shoreham beach? Or is my memory playing me up again?