AVENTURA, Florida (AP) -- A decades-old cargo plane went down in a lake in a Miami suburb Saturday, but the pilot and co-pilot climbed onto the fuselage and were plucked to safety by rescuers.

The Miami Air Lease plane -- with the words "Eelect (sic) George W. Bush" running the length of the fuselage -- had trouble with one of its two engines shortly after takeoff, said company office manager Alina Nodarse.

The pilots tried to return the Convair CV-340 to the Opa-locka airport about seven miles away but couldn't make it and splashed down in Mall Lake, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Chris White. The lake is surrounded by condominium towers.

"They landed there like that to avoid the buildings," Nodarse said after the rescued pilots checked in by phone.

Pilot Alejandro Bristol and co-pilot Dennis Villavicencio climbed onto the fuselage, and one of them walked the length of the plane before being rescued by boat. The Coast Guard responded along with local police and fire crews.

Half of the fuselage and the tips of the propellers were sticking out of the water minutes after the crash landing and pleasure boaters began to gather around.

Boat crews planned to surround the plane with an inflatable dike to contain any leaking oil. Trapped air was keeping the plane afloat, and emergency crews hoped to keep it from sinking by propping it up with air bags.

source:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/04/plane.crash.ap/index.html

Wow... Lucky

Tell me about it.

That was a good landing...glad no one hurt seriously.

awww was about to post

pilots so lucky

i would S%$t on my pants if i was on that plane

Think the pilots were scared? Imagine if you were one of those pleasure boaters and all of the sudden a freakin plane hits the water right beside you... at least the pilots knew they were gonna crash, and can you imagine the size of the splash?