Pilot walks home after plane crashes on Lake Winnipeg

A pilot who lost control of his plane and crashed into Lake Winnipeg Saturday afternoon walked back to his residence and called for rescue.

The pilot and his passenger escaped death after the private, single-engine plane they were traveling in crashed shortly after takeoff, around 4:15 pm, RCMP said.

RCMP said the men, both from Manigotagan, left Mantago Bay on Lake Winnipeg and encountered bad weather a few miles into their flight south. The pilot tried to return to Mantago Bay but the plane crashed on Lake Winnipeg, about eight kilometres off shore from Manigotagan, about 150 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

The pilot then walked back to his residence on Mantago Bay, contacted both the RCMP and local emergency crews. Local residents on snowmobiles were able to rescue the stranded passenger from the crash site. Both men were taken by ambulance to Pine Falls Hospital where they remain with non-life threatening injuries, RCMP said.

RCMP attended the crash site to survey the scene and with the Transportation Safety Board will continue to investigate.

Peter Hildebrand, of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said today that crash investigators will be speaking with the pilot of the plane next week.