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Plane Pulled From Danbury Pond As Investigation Begins

DANBURY, Conn. -- A small plane that came up short on a landing last week at Danbury Municipal Airport has been pulled from the pond where it was floating, Mayor Mark Boughton said via Twitter. 

Photo Credit: Mayor Mark Boughton via Twitter @MayorMark
Photo Credit: Mayor Mark Boughton via Twitter @MayorMark

The 1984 Beechcraft Bonanza that landed in a pond Thursday evening is registered to Lionel G. Brown, a retired hand surgeon from Newtown, according to the NewsTimes.com. He was not injured in the unorthodox landing.

On Friday, the plane was hoisted by a crane out of the pond and taken to a hangar at Danbury airport for the investigation to begin, the NewsTimes.com said. 

Brown was rescued by firefighters in a rowboat after the splash landing. He had been heading north to land on Runway 35 at the airport, traveling above Route 7 toward the Danbury Fair mall, said Paul Estefan, airport administrator for the city. 

Old-time Danbury residents might remember the pond as Fisherman's Paradise, which was stocked and people fished in it off the old Route 7, Estefan said. 

Deputy Fire Chief Bernie Meehan supervised as firefighters went out in a rowboat to rescue the pilot. The plane landed in 8 to 10 feet of water. "He was outside the cockpit, standing on the plane, when we arrived," Meehan said.  

The plane landed about a quarter mile short of the runway in the pond south of the airport off Miry Pond Road. 

"As pilots say, 'Any landing you walk away from is a good landing,'" Meehan said. "We are just happy that everyone is OK." 

Read the full story about the investigation here at the NewsTimes.com. 

Read more about the crash here at the Daily Voice. 

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