Small plane crashes into Lake LBJ; no injuries reported
A small aircraft nosedived into Lake LBJ on Wednesday, March 16, resulting in damage to the plane but no injuries to the pilot, a Kingsland resident.
“A gentleman from the Shirley Williams Airport in Kingsland, where he keeps his plane, was landing on Lake LBJ,” Granite Shoals Fire Chief Tim Campbell told DailyTrib.com. “It’s the kind of plane that lands on both water and land, and he forgot to retract the landing gear for a water landing.”
When the plane hit the lake, it nosedived, breaking the windshield and filling with water, Campbell said. As it started to sink, a passerby helped get the pilot safely out then tied a rope to the aircraft and dragged it to shore.
Granite Shoals Fire and Rescue, the Granite Shoals and Marble Falls police departments, and Granite Shoals EMS all assisted. The case will be turned over to the Texas Department of Public Safety and then to the Federal Aviation Administration.
“We didn’t have to do a lot,” Campbell said. “We used some of our ropes to tie it off so it wouldn’t float off and be an obstacle out in the middle of the lake.”
The plane was secured next to 2510 Belair East Lane until a tow truck hauled it off. The Icon A5 light sport plane has retractable wings, which were folded up and out of the way so it could be towed. It is a two-person plane, but only the pilot was on board at the time.
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Glad the pilot is ok. When I read this I thought it was an old article – same thing happened in Canada back in 2019: guy landed his Icon A5 in a Lake Okanagan, BC with the landing gear down, it flipped over. https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/icon-a5-flips-on-water-landing/
They used to be marketed like airborne jet skis so the concern is that novice and even experienced pilots get sloppy or distracted flying them. If you look at the crash history of this plane, its always pilot error based on carelessness – the most famous person being Roy Halladay.
They also got out OK, but wow, very costly mistake – these planes are in the ‘light sport’ category that only requires 20 hours or training to fly, but A5’s are not cheap (almost $400k new). I presume its a write off if the engine and instruments got soaked. If the pilot wants to get a new one, maybe consider a Sea Max – its been shown landing with the gear down intentionally and it doesn’t flip, though its not recommended.