Castanet has learned more details about a daring rescue just two days before Christmas.

Search and Rescue teams from across the Okanagan and the Coast got involved after the call went out to help a pilot who had to land on Tsuh Lake in Eneas Lakes Provincial Park, west of Peachland, on Dec 23.

Initially, the call went out on Monday afternoon and due to the remoteness of the lake and limited visibility, Central Okanagan Search and Rescue called in Penticton Search and Rescue. A North Shore Rescue Talon helicopter with night vision capabilities was also flown in to assist.

The NSR/Talon crew couldn't land due to fog, but COSAR and PenSAR members managed to get into the area and get the pilot to safety that night. This was COSAR's 86th call of 2024.

COSAR and other emergency rescue organizations work to save people who wind up in trouble in the backcountry, but they are not set up to recover vehicles, especially a plane.

That's where the Okanagan Off Road Rescue and Recovery Facebook group stepped in.

The pilot, Sam Winick tells Castanet he put out the call in the group after he had been rescued, to see if anyone was available to help him get his plane off the ground.

Winick was doing a low-level maneuver when his landing gear made contact with the snow, forcing him to land on the lake. Once on the ice, Winick found the snow was too deep for him to take off again.

Instead of giving up on his plane, Winick put out the call for help and it wasn't long before enough people showed up on Dec. 24 to help pack down an area big enough for him to take off.

"[The site] is used extensively all winter, and the person with the plane put his post up on that particular site that he needed help with, either ATVs or snowmobiles or Jeep guys to go up there and pack him a runway so he could fly his plane out," Albert Vandervelde, a member of the recovery group, tells Castanet.

"I think he had his plane airborne and out by noon the next day."

Vandervelde calls it "a very, very unique rescue."

Winick says he's very grateful for the help that allowed him to make it home to his family for Christmas.

"That would be great to shoutout the group, all very helpful," Winick said. "Bruce [Cook] was about to head out and check the area to see what kind of machine he could get in to help. Ike [Burkhart] was very eager to help and he drove out from Armstrong the morning after I got stuck. We doubled on his snowmobile out there and packed a runway a bit better, I was able to fly it out."

Winick and his plane are no worse for wear after the experience and he's extremely grateful people like Burkhart and Cook are out there, willing to help even on Christmas Eve.

"I’m still decompressing and just spending time with my family," says Winick.

Photo: Sam Winick

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Photo: Sam Winick Photo: Sam Winick Photo: COSAR Photo: COSAR Photo: COSAR Photo: COSAR