Pulling a plane off a frozen river

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - The day after a surprise stop on a frozen West Michigan river, the small plane that caused a big commotion is back on solid ground.

It all started Tuesday morning when the plane, with a pilot and passenger on board, took off from Brownsville, Texas. From there, the plane made a stop in Springfield, Missouri before the final leg of the trip towards Three Rivers. Unfortunately they never made it to the airport, landing instead on the frozen St. Joseph River.

Fred Nelson, his son Fred Junior and their dog all walked away from the crash uninjured. After that, the task for officials was getting the plane safely off the thin ice.

The plane came down about a mile from the Three Rivers airport, which was the pilot's destination, and had he made it there, it would have been much easier for first responders than trying to get his plane off of a frozen river.

No one was ice-fishing Wednesday morning on the St. Joseph River, but there were 15 guys, lots of cable and rope and one stubborn plane.

"We knew it was going to be awhile," said Chief Scott Miracle.

"We've never planned on taking a plane off the ice," said Deputy Dave Alli.

Wednesday morning, the neighborhood came out to watch as firefighters and the dive team tried to reel in the single-engine aircraft from 1,000 feet. They didn't know how long the ice would hold, the ice was six inches thick by the shore.

"It was only sitting on about two inches of ice," said Jesse Toney.

Until the plane got off the ice, two FAA investigators looking into what happened Tuesday night could only watch.

"They didn't want to go out on the ice to do that out there," said chief Miracle.

It took some time, and the wheels of the plane broke through the ice several times, but eventually the plane slid to shore. For those on the dive team, the events of Wednesday morning were a first.

"A few Amish buggies and cars, but never an aircraft," said Jesse Toney.

The FAA was able to start its investigation Wednesday afternoon once the plane made it to shore. The complete investigation should take a few weeks, but an official told Newschannel 3 that it looks like the weather and freezing rain were one cause of the crash.

The windshield of the plane has no wipers on it, so the pilot had no way to get the ice off so he could see.