Labrador couple rescue float plane survivors following Canada Day crash
A float plane taking off in North West River met a shocking end to its short flight last week, leaving its pilot, a passenger and a dog alive thanks to quick thinking from two witnesses near the shoreline.
Lar and Brigette Aylward had stopped their twice-daily walk to the river, where they check their fishing net, to watch the float plane take off on July 1.
"Things looked normal," said Lar Aylward, describing the initial few seconds after the plane's pontoons left the water.
But only a couple of metres into the air, Aylward said the plane looked unbalanced, with one pontoon far higher than the other.
Quickly, the plane took a sharp downward turn, with one of the wings hitting the water, flipping the entire aircraft upside down.
"All you could hear was the crash of metal crushing," Aylward said. "We just screamed — [we were] shocked to see what happened."
Despite not knowing how to swim, the couple ran to the shoreline to help, fearing for the lives of those inside.
"We just booted, as fast as we could, to the crash site," he recalled. "Both of us thought for sure that they were dead.
"The plane was just barely sticking out of the water, upside down. You could just see two pontoons sticking up and debris everywhere."
The couple caught sight of someone bobbing in the water about half a kilometre from shore. As he neared, Aylward says he called out to say everyone has escaped the rapidly sinking plane.
'God only knows what went wrong'
The Aylwards watched as the two men and their dog swam closer, and helped haul both pilot and passenger to land.
All were in good shape but visibly cold and frightened, he said.
"The fella in the water, he had nothing on but his T-shirt," Aylward said. "My wife had to take off her coat and give it to him, he was shaking so much."
Aylward said they never caught the names of the people they rescued, but other residents pitched in to help clean up the debris, dragging the flipped aircraft to shore with a front-end loader.
Sheshatshiu RCMP responded and completed an investigation, a spokesperson confirmed. Police said both men walked away from the crash with minor injuries, and credited nearby residents with the rescue.
Aylward said he and Brigette are still in shock over what they saw.
"I love watching float planes take off…. never thought anything like that would ever happen. Never want to see it again," he said. "God only knows what went wrong."
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
