Four Survive Cherry Lake Plane Crash

Groveland, Ca — A husband, wife and two children survived a crash landing on Cherry Lake Wednesday morning.

A single engine Cessna aircraft on floats was attempting to land on the lake, but the landing gear was accidentally deployed, causing the plane to cartwheel into the water.

?Kudos to the pilot,? says Incident Commander Dave Bartel with the City and County of San Francisco Hetch Hetchy Water and Power. ?He had the youngest child in a booster seat with a five point harness. He had to dive down approximately three times to smash out the back window, but he was able to get the young child out.?

All four were able to safely find shore and were in good health. Bartel says the husband was taken to a local hospital because of a hand injury caused by punching out the window.

The loss of the plane and its contents is estimated at $250,000. The Tuolumne County Sheriff´s Office has not released the names of the four involved. The accident was reported around the nine o´clock hour.

Written by BJ Hansen