Metro

‘Jet’ stream in Queens

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He landed in hot water.

A 24-year-old pilot who made a safe emergency landing in the water off the Rockaways last night was questioned by cops because he touched down without permission, law-enforcement sources told The Post.

The pilot, Jason Maloney, took off from Republic Airport in Farmingdale, LI, for a sightseeing trip with pals Clarke Oler, 22, and Chelsea Protter, 21, both from Suffolk County.

He soon contacted the control tower at JFK Airport and said one of his passengers had become “violently ill,” the sources said.

Maloney, an upstater who is studying medicine at Georgetown University in Washington, then asked for permission to land on the beach.

When the controller denied the request, Maloney claimed he was experiencing a “rough engine” in the Piper PA-28.

The controller then asked if Maloney needed to declare an emergency. He declined.

Then Maloney asked if there were any private beaches nearby, the sources said. The controller repeated, “You don’t have permission to land.”

Maloney, who holds a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Boston University, then landed in very shallow water in the ocean off Beach 56th Street at around 7 p.m.

“I was looking out the window and we got close and next thing you know, we touched and the nose went down and the power just cut off,” Oler told WNBC/Channel 4.

Witness Tyisha Williams said, “I noticed a very small plane headed towards the beach unusually fast. I screamed to my friends, ‘Oh, my God! It’s gonna crash!’

“It hit the beach hard and made a huge splash,” Williams, 23, said.

Maloney was limping after the accident, but he and his two passengers declined medical aid.

“The pilot was trying to cover his face, he was crying so much,” Williams said.

Jackqueline Lopez, 31, was walking with her son Ezequiel Ospina, 14, when the pilot offered the boy some advice.

“He told my son, ‘Love what you do, love what you do. I’m never going to ride in a plane again,’ ” she said.

Protter’s mother told the Post her daughter, who is dating Oler, is “21 and just wanted to go on a fun adventure.

“But I think this is one of the stupidest things she’s ever done. The first thing I thought of was JFK Jr.,” she said.

Maloney, who first told cops he’d gotten permission to land on the beach, was taken to the 101st Precinct station house, the sources said.

His parents declined to comment when they arrived at the police station late last. They left with their son.

It wasn’t clear what, if any, charges the NYPD could file.

A spokesman for the FAA, whose agents were at the Queens station house, said its “investigating” and he “cannot say [what federal punishments Maloney faces] until we understand the circumstances of the incident.”

A college friend of Maloney, who asked not to be identified, said his pal is “really, really smart.”

“He’s the kind of kid that when he’s doing something, he goes all out.”

Additional reporting by Kevin Fasick and Erin Calabrese

philip.messing@nypost.com