CENTRE WELLINGTON – Emergency services responded to a reported airplane crash at Belwood Lake on the evening of July 24.
A Wellington OPP press release states that around 7:15pm on Monday, police, paramedics and firefighters attended the lake where a small aircraft had crashed into the water.
Police say onlookers assisted the pilot, the only occupant of the airplane, from the water.
The pilot reportedly suffered minor injuries and was treated by paramedics.
Centre Wellington Fire and Rescue Services deputy chief Jonathan Karn said the department’s boat was deployed and an anchor hooked onto the wreckage 35 feet below the water’s surface with a buoy marking its location at the top.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is investigating the crash, spokesperson Chris Krepski confirmed to the Advertiser.
Krepski wrote in an email that a privately-registered Quad City Challenger II ultralight aircraft had crashed into the lake.
A privately-registered Quad City Challenger II ultralight aircraft, similar in appearance to the one pictured, crash-landed into Belwood Lake on July 24. Image in public domain
“The pilot … self-extricated from the aircraft and was assisted ashore,” Krepski said, adding the pilot was transported to a hospital as a precaution.
The aircraft remains submerged, he noted.
The TSB isn’t sending investigators and has assessed the crash as a “Class 5 occurrence,” meaning there won’t be a comprehensive investigation.
“Data on Class 5 occurrences are recorded in suitable scope for possible future safety analysis, statistical reporting, or archival purposes,” Krepski explained.
The area of the lake where the crash occurred falls within Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) property.
GRCA spokesperson Cam Linwood told the Advertiser in an email that authority staff were notified of the crash shortly after 7:30pm on Monday but emergency services had already arrived by then.
“The reservoir was not closed during the incident and remains open for regular use,” Linwood stated.
Conservation authority staff are monitoring the location of the submerged aircraft, but Linwood did not have information about how recovery would happen or when.
The Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) Spills Action Centre received a call about the crash at around 8:30pm on July 24, according to ministry spokesperson Gary Wheeler.
Ministry staff responded to the lake and met with GRCA staff, Wheeler said in an email to the Advertiser.
“The pilot reported the plane was carrying approximately 18.75 litres of fuel in a sealed tank with a very low risk of leaking,” Wheeler wrote.
Though firefighters reported what they believed to be a “hydrocarbon sheen” on the surface water, the ministry believes the sheen was caused by liquids on the plane’s exterior or organic matter disturbed from the bottom of the lake on impact, Wheeler wrote.
The spokesperson said the conservation authority will formulate a plan with the plane’s owner to have it removed from the lake.
“Ministry staff from the Guelph District Office will remain in contact with GRCA regarding the recovery of the plane and monitor the situation to ensure that there are no further environmental concerns during the recovery process,” Wheeler wrote
