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May 28, 2004PLANE CRASH: Pilot unhurt after landing in bayHome-built aircraft lost powerByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - An 85-year-old man walked away from his home-built plane after he lost power and decided to crash land in East Bay. "You don't have time to choose," said Paul Kauffman of Traverse City. "You have two or three options, and you pick the best one. There was no place on land to land without hitting a house or car or something or people - so I took the water." Kauffman, who said he's been flying since the 1950s, took off from Cherry Capital Airport Wednesday night to fly his experimental plane. He was about 400 or 500 feet in the air when he discovered danger. "I don't know what happened," he said. "I lost power and (there was) nowhere to go but up into the lake." The pilot began looking for a place to land and put the plane down at 7:50 p.m. in several feet of water about 300 feet off shore. "Thankfully, he was unhurt," said Ron Hubbard, air traffic manager. Kauffman was the only person on board. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash. The plane, a single-engine "experimental aircraft" he built himself, was a total loss, Kauffman said. "It's fatal," he said. "... It is beyond repair." The sheriff's department removed the plane from the bay with equipment on loan from Elmer's Crane and Dozer. Hubbard said one of the plane's main gears was ripped off and another twisted, and it appeared the plane was losing oil. The decision to crash land in shallow water was a good one, said Scott Fewins, Grand Traverse County's sheriff. "It was a perfect place to put a plane down, as it turns out," Fewins said. The water is still very cold and it is unlikely Kauffman would have survived had he put the plane down in the middle of the bay, Fewins said. Rescuers wouldn't have been able to reach him in time. "We had no indication that he was having an emergency or any trouble until another aircraft reported (a) plane down," Hubbard said. 
Record-Eagle/John L. Russell Rescue personnel and a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter hover near a single-engine airplane that crashed into East Grand Traverse Bay shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday night south of the Mountain Jack’s restaurant. The elderly pilot was uninjured and refused treatment at the scene. The Federal Aviation Administration was contacted and will investigate the incident.
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