MILTON — Two men who were practicing landing and taking off from the ice on Lake Champlain escaped injury Saturday afternoon when their small aircraft began to sink through the surface between Milton and South Hero, a Vermont aeronautics official said.
Milton Fire Chief Don Turner, who responded to the scene, said he was amazed and thankful the men walked away from the precarious and crumbling sheet of ice without injuries.
The plane, a four-seat Cessna 172 based at Burlington International Airport, landed about three-quarters of a mile offshore from the Department of Fish and Wildlife's Van Everest fishing access in Milton.
"Apparently, they were unable to depart the ice after they landed," said Guy Rouelle, aeronautics administrator with Vermont Aviation, a division of the Agency of Transportation.
The pilot and passenger had to traverse melting ice, at times trudging through 3 to 4 feet of water, to reach solid ground, where rescue crews met them, Turner said. A strong wind was whipping off the frozen lake from west to east, cooling the air considerably even in the warm spring sun.
"They're very wet, very cold, but they appear to be fine," Turner said.
"They are very, very lucky guys today," Turner added. "That ice is very, very dangerous. It is something I dread as a fire chief to put people on to go rescue somebody, so I was very gratified when I got here that they were already nearing shore."
Turner said he has seen nothing like Saturday's incident during his 32 years with the Milton Fire Department.
The incident at first was reported to emergency authorities as a plane crash at about 2:45 p.m., initially in the vicinity of Sand Bar State Park off U.S. 2 between Milton and South Hero. Subsequent dispatches redirected rescue crews to the Van Everest access along Everest Road in Milton.
Respnding police, fire and rescue units, their lights flashing, filled the access's parking lot several minutes after the incident. The pilot and passenger were inside an ambulance, which later departed for the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington.
The men were unavailable for comment.
The plane was barely visible through heat waves off shore but could be seen clearly through long camera lenses and binoculars. And the plane, with 30 gallons of fuel aboard, was sinking, Fire Chief Turner said.
Vermont Emergency Management, the plane's owner and the insurance company were making plans Saturday afternoon how to remove the aircraft from the weakening ice. Turner said that the plane clearly was sinking.
Lake Champlain's ice thins considerably this time of year, and the state warned all anglers last month to remove fishing shanties before the ice breaks up.
It's unclear whether the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident.
"If there are significant injuries or substantial damage to the aircraft, we would consider that an accident and would investigate," said Peter Knudson, a spokesman with the transportation safety board. "It could be that the aircraft is just wet. It may take time to determine that."
Source: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com
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