One man disappeared into the chilly waters of Lake Michigan on Sunday after the small single-engine plane he was flying crash-landed 4 miles from the Chicago shoreline.
The plane’s only passenger, a 49-year-old Texas man, and the missing pilot, believed to be in his 60s, struggled together to swim ashore, officials said. But only the passenger was located, scooped up by a Coast Guard Auxiliary boat about 5:10 p.m., a half-hour after the American Legend Cub plane went down.
From there, the Coast Guard volunteers helped transport the man to shore, near the Marina Cafe in Jackson Harbor. Paramedics took him to the University of Chicago Hospitals, where he was treated and released, officials said.
“He was very upset. They were swimming together heading towards the shore,” said John Laurie, who was on the three-man boat that rescued the man. “I believe he was trying to assist him in some other way.”
Rescuers descended upon the area near the 68th Street water-filtration facility after receiving a distress call from a plane bound for the Gary Chicago International Airport, Langford said. The two men had taken off earlier Sunday from Oshkosh, Wis.
Chicago fire Capt. Mike Fox said the passenger and the man appeared to make it out of the landing safely, which the passenger said was not rough.
“[The passenger] said the engine stopped, the plane floated for a few seconds and they were able to get out,” Fox said.
The two men tried to begin swimming back to shore, Laurie said, and the passenger was concerned about the older pilot. It was unclear how the two men became separated.
The Coast Guard unit pulled the passenger from water near the intake facility as he floated on a cushion from the plane, Laurie said.
At 9:30 p.m. Sunday, Coast Guard and police crews called off their search for the pilot and plane. The search, which was to resume Monday morning, included the use of sonar, divers and a Fire Department helicopter.
Federal aviation officials said they had been notified of the crash and have opened an investigation.
It was unclear what the two men were doing in Oshkosh, but the passenger was wearing a bracelet commemorating an Oshkosh air show.
This past week, the Oshkosh airport played host to the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture Show. Association officials were not available for comment Sunday.
The event is billed as the world’s largest gathering of recreational aviators. According to The Associated Press, a Navy warbird airplane’s propeller sliced into another plane, killing a man at the show Sunday.
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