Two fliers rescued from lake Wind blows plane into Moosehead

MOOSEHEAD LAKE – A father and son from Searsmont were rescued Tuesday afternoon after the ultralight aircraft they were flying crashed into Moosehead Lake near Farm Island.

Walter Lamont Jr., 32, was piloting the two-seat experimental plane when the vehicle was caught in a gust of wind. His father, Walter Lamont Sr., age unknown, was also in the plane. The force of the wind caused a wing to dip into the water, according to Sgt. Dan Menard of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Menard said the younger Lamont suffered a couple of cuts in the crash, and the father was not injured.

The Lamonts were rescued from the wind-whipped waters by boaters who witnessed the crash including Leona Harding and her husband, Norman Harding, managers of Tomhegan Wilderness Resort.

Leona Harding said Tuesday afternoon that she had been standing out on the shore watching the plane when she saw that the pilot was having trouble on his return to the resort at about 2 p.m.

Leona Harding, who is an emergency medical technician, climbed into a boat nearby, unaware that her husband also was headed to the scene in another boat.

Before the Hardings arrived at the crash site, a pontoon boat that had been in the area rescued the father and son from the cold waters.

“They were out in short order,” Leona Harding said.

The damaged plane was towed to shore.

The Maine Warden Service responded to the report of the emergency.