SPRINGFIELD, Ore. (KMTR) – A pilot is OK after a plane crash on the McKenzie River Saturday, but his plane remains upside down, underwater.
The crash happened just before 8 a.m. on Saturday, August 6th, 2011, on the McKenzie River near Bellinger Boat Ramp, northeast of Springfield along Camp Creek Road.
Neighbors say it’s common to see a plane doing a “dead engine” drill along the McKenzie River every now and then. During the summer, the river is also prime time for rescue situations.
“We see quite a few rafting incidents,” says Jeff Reynolds, a nearby resident.
Lane County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue boat crews have responded to at least 25 water rescues incidents so far in the summer of 2011, but Saturday was a very different story.
While doing some early morning gardening, Reynolds heard a plane flying nearby, but very low to the ground.
“First it kind of looped around and circled in the air,” said Reynolds.
Down the road, Jesse Anderson woke up out of bed after hearing the plane.
“Buzzed our house pretty close,” said Anderson. “I didn’t see the crash, but I kind of thought it might've.”
“Started to get closer and closer to the water up stream,” said Reynolds. “Next thing I knew, I saw just a big splash,” said Reynolds.
About a mile upstream from the Bellinger Boat Ramp, a single engine pontoon bi-plane crashed in the middle of the river.
“The plane was standing nose down with the tail in the air, then the plane flipped over,” said Reynolds.
The Lane County Sheriff’s Office says a 65-year-old pilot from Rosebud, Texas, John Proctor was flying the plane. No one else was onboard.
Proctor told authorities that he had planned on flying to Detroit Lake, but when the weather changed, he changed his plans to land on the McKenzie River and wait the weather out.
With no sign of Proctor emerging from the upside down plane, Reynolds called 9-1-1 and McKenzie Fire and Rescue and Lane County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue boat crews responded.
But before crews arrived on scene, a sign of life emerged from the plane.
“Eventually I did see the pilot climb up on top of the plane,” said Reynolds.
“Uninjured, in good shape, just soaking wet,” said John Miller of Lane County Search and Rescue.
“He'd hit some kind of a fixed object in the river when he was landing and it caused him to flip over,” said Miller.
Miller says the rescue is unprecedented in the area.
“Not in my wildest dreams but at least it was low key, and at least he wasn't hurt,” said Miller.
For rescuers and neighbors, it’s an incident many won’t forget.
“Kinda surreal like Alaska Wingman.. You know, the show,” said Reynolds.
The Lane County Sheriff’s Office spent Saturday afternoon trying to remove the plane. Crews are trying to flip it over and float it back to the Bellinger Boat Landing. Work continued into Saturday evening.
No oils or fuel are leaking from the plane, which has already been released back to Proctor from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board. The FAA is planning to do a follow up investigation at a later time.
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