Central Okanagan

A float plane pilot is lucky to be alive after crashing  into Okanagan Lake Sunday afternoon.

The plane flipped into the lake near Okanagan Centre Road West.

Lake Country resident Charm Gerace says she had been watching the plane come in from Kelowna just before 4 p.m., and the pilot appeared to be practicing taking off and landing when something went wrong.

"He had practiced landing and taking off from the water about four times, but on the fifth time some how he turned too suddenly and his right wing got caught in the water and it flipped over so fast."

The pilot was submerged in the upside down plane for approximately two minutes.

Gerace says someone on a jet ski quickly rushed over and picked up the pilot, taking him to a nearby wharf.

The pilot would not give Castanet his name. He did say he was okay and that he was a student at a local Kelowna fight school.

The plane belongs to the school, but it is now the pilot's responsibility to have it removed from the water as quickly as possible because of environmental reasons.

RCMP say they are not pressing charges in the incident.

Float Plane Crash Sept. 16

Photo: Contributed - Ken Witzke

Photo: Contributed - Ken Witzke

Photo: Contributed - Ken Witzke

Photo: Contributed - Ken Witzke

Photo: Contributed - Ken Witzke

Photo: Contributed - Ken Witzke

Photo: Contributed - Ken Witzke

Photo: Contributed - Ken Witzke

Rescue rider

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