Paddleboarder Rescues Pilot After Plane Crashes Into Texas Lake

A game warden pilot for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department was involved in a plane crash on Thursday (June 16). Thankfully, a paddleboarder was nearby on Lady Bird Lake in Austin and was able to help rescue the pilot, according to KXAN.

Bystander Nicholas Compton heard a loud sound and assumed something happened on nearby Interstate-35, but a paddleboarder yelled out a plane had crashed into the lake. Compton grabbed a life jacket and hurried into the water to save the pilot, he told KXAN. Compton said he wasn't expecting the pilot to be alive when he rushed toward the water. "I was expecting to see something much worse than a man still alive floating so I was very relieved to see that he was still conscious and everything so, it wasn’t much thinking except just getting him to the shore to medical services," he said.

Compton was able to find the pilot who was "out of breath" and "in shock," he said. "He was very out of it. Not much dialogue happened," Compton said. It took about five minutes to get the pilot to shore. The pilot is now at the hospital with "potentially serious injuries" and is being evaluated, officials said.

The pilot was in fact a game warden pilot for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. They posted the following statement on social media: "Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is aware that a Game Warden Pilot was involved in a plane crash today in Austin on Lady Bird Lake. We are gathering more information about the status of the pilot and the airplane. After exiting the plane, the pilot was taken to the hospital by EMS but sustained no major injuries. The plane has now successfully been removed from the water."

TPWD said the plane "had just come out of routine maintenance and the pilot was on a test flight when they reported mechanical issues which forced them to land the plane in Lady Bird Lake."