A 76-year-old pilot escaped with just minor injuries when his small plane crash in Strathcona County Tuesday.
He was flying a Cessna 180 float plane and was scheduled to take off from South Cooking Lake southeast of Sherwood Park, Alta.
During takeoff one of the plane’s wings reportedly touched the water, causing the plane to flip.
Officials say the biggest problem was that it took five-and-a-half hours for rescue crews to get to him, as the lake is shallow and very muddy.
Strathcona County deputy fire chief Vern Elliot says even an air boat used for such situations had trouble getting out to the site of the crash.
While rescue efforts were underway, a man in a canoe paddled out and offered the pilot some water, but Elliot says they discourage Good Samaritans from trying to undertake their own rescues.
He says it “kind of makes the incident more complex.”
With files from CHED and Global News