Seaplane crashes into 40° Lake Winnipesaukee

ALTON — A pilot suffered from cold water immersion but escaped without serious injury when his single-engine seaplane crashed and sank on The Broads, north of Rattlesnake Island, on Lake Winnipesaukee at about 12:30 p.m. yesterday.

Vadim Gayshan, 59, of Sudbury, Mass. was found by Marine Patrol officers Joshua Dirth and Philip Carpenter at 12:50 p.m., 20 minutes after the crash was reported, straddling the tail section of the largely submerged plane and waist deep in water. Gaysan was brought aboard the patrol with a throw ring and taken to Glendale, where he was met buy an ambulance from Alton Fire Rescue and transported to Lakes Region General Hospital in Laocnia.

The N.H. Department of Environmental Services (DES) reported the water temperature of the lake was 40 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday.

According to Marine Patrol, Gayshan, a pilot of 13 years whose experience includes two years with seaplanes, told officers he had flown the Cessna T206H from Fitchburg, Mass. He said that he was eying the retreating ice on the lake and flying at a speed of 70 to 80 knots between 300 and 400 feet above the water when he decided to fly "touch and gos," landing on the surface and taking off again without stopping. He said that he misjudged his elevation and the pontoon caught on the water, causing the plane to crash nose first. The plane subsequently sank in 105 feet of water.

Marine Patrol and DES, in partnership with Dive Winnipesaukee of Wolfeboro and Winnipesaukee Marine Construction of Gilford, were working to recover the plane yesterday.