Pilot unhurt after plane flips

An amphibious airplane crash-landed Tuesday into Newman Lake.

The pilot, Vern Ziegler, escaped from the cockpit and was not seriously injured. The wheels and belly of the 1947 airplane were the only things showing Tuesday, but Ziegler said he thinks it will be salvageable.

Ziegler, the founder of Ziggy’s Building Materials, said he’s been flying for 34 years and had spent more than 5,000 hours flying. This was the first time he has ever had an accident.

Ziegler had flown from Felts Field and was landing on Newman Lake near Honeymoon Bay. Ziegeler said he thinks he dropped his landing gear instead of a flap lever, flipping the plane. He said it could have been caused by a malfunction, but was likely his error.

“It’s complacent pilots that get in trouble,” said the 69-year-old Ziegler.

Firefighters got the call that an airplane had flipped on the lake at 3:22 p.m., said Newman Lake Fire District 13 firefighter Bob Pool. By the time firefighters arrived, other boaters had sped to the scene of the crash and gotten Ziegler out of the water.

Newman Lake personnel checked the pilot and decided he was not seriously injured. Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the state Department of Ecology were notified of the crash, Pool said.

The plane was approximately 500 yards from shore when it crashed, Pool said. It was later towed closer to shore. self end