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Pilot rescued after plane crashes into Cedar Lake


(Courtesy: Lynnette)
(Courtesy: Lynnette)
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LEELANAU COUNTY, Mich. (WPBN/WGTU) -- A man was rescued after a plane crash in Cedar Lake.

It happened just after 9:30 a.m. in Cedar Lake off of Cherry Bend Road.

According to the Leelanau County Sheriff's Office, the pilot, 59-year-old Kevin Malone, made an uncontrolled landing causing the water plane to overturn.

Malone said he thinks the crash may have had something to do with the plane's wheels.

"The wheels were down when we landed," Malone said. "We'll have to figure out why that happened later. When that happens in a sea plane, it goes end over end and it winds up upside down."

We are told there was only one person in the plane. Malone was rescued and able to walk away from the scene.

Before emergency crews arrived, Father Christopher Jarvis and his dad paddled out in a rowboat to get Malone safely to shore. They found him on top of the floating plane.

"You know it's kind of like Divine Providence because to be honest with you, I was going to be heading downstate today and I shouldn't even have been here," said Father Jarvis. "We started to talk for a little while and it delayed us enough time but Providence of God that that happened and we were still here."

A witness at the scene says he has seen the plane land in Cedar Lake several times before. The witness says he saw the plane coming in pretty quick.

Crews did get the plane out of the lake Monday afternoon around the two, with the help of a dive team from the Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office and Team Elmer's.

Team Elmer's brought a crane in to hoist the airplane out of the water and onto the ground.

The Federal Aviation Administration will be investigating to determine an exact cause of the crash.


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