Submerged Plane Found In North Carolina Lake

A small plane was found submerged nearly 100 feet below the water’s surface in a North Carolina Lake.

According to ABC News, side-sonar imaging revealed the submerged plane in the deepest part of Lake Norman, near Cornelius, North Carolina.

The plane was found by firefighters on a training exercise while running practice drills.

WBTV reported the Charlotte Fire Department, the dive team was doing practice drills on the water using the sonar equipment when they located the submerged plane.

The report continued on to say that Charlotte emergency crews notified the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that the plane had been found.

“Years ago, it took a hit or miss to find things or people [in the water],” said Charlotte Fire Department Captain Robert Brisley to ABC News.

“This equipment allows us to identify points and images before we put divers deep into the water.”

According to WBTV, the plane was found in 90 feet of water and is not visible from the surface.

The report continued on to say that FAA officials have yet to identify what type of plane is under the water or how it ended up in the lake to begin with.

They are using the plane’s tail number and other information that was found to try to located the last owner of the plane.

ABC News reported that Barbara Anderson of Cornelius believes the sunken plane might be hers,and contacted the FAA once news of the plane broke.

Anderson stated that her plane had dropped down to the bottom of Lake Norman after flight instructors were using it for training more than 30 years ago.

“We got a phone call that said your plane has sunk,” she said. “They landed, forgot to put the gear up to lock it up and she sunk.”

Anderson stated that nobody had been hurt in that incident, but her plane was never found. According to ABC News, Anderson stated the following:

“Every time I’d go out flying, I’d look,” Anderson said.

“One day, I saw it. The sun glanced right down on it. And I called back and said I found it, but by the time they got down there with the boats and things, it had shifted.”

Could the boat be Anderson’s? There is a small possibility, especially considering WBTV reported that the emergency crews had not found any bodies left inside the plane.

Until the submerged plane is identified, reports say that fire crews would not be removing the plan from the water.

[Image via ABC News]