What was suppose to be a leisurely flight became anything but for Graham Lake resident Greg Burgess. Burgess flew the Volks plane that crashed into the St. Lawrence River west of Iroquois beach on August 8th.
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n “Happy to be alive,” said Burgess in a phone interview with The Leader.
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n “I got a couple of scratches on my hand but otherwise I’m OK.”
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n Burgess, who flies out of the Brockville Municipal Airport, had planned ahead to fly from Brockville to Iroquois, then Iroquois to the Morrisburg airport at Upper Canada Village, then return home.
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n “The engine quit on me on climbout,” said Burgess of his take off from Iroquois.
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n “I was going to land but there were too many birds on the runway. I had no choice to go into the water.”
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n Burgess explained that it was a split second decision what to do.
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n “The main thing you want is not to hurt anyone on the ground. You hope you can make it to a reasonable area to land. If you cannot hurt anyone that’s a good thing.”
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n The reason for the engine failure is till a mystery for Burgess.
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n “It runs now. I can’t figure out why it stopped working. I won’t be flying it until I know why it happened.”
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n The Volks plane is an amateur-built craft completed in 1979. Burgess has flown the plane many times and is in the process of assuming ownership of it.
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n “It’s still officially registered to the seller, but it’s just waiting for paperwork to catch up.”
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n The plane currently sits in hanger space loaned to him at the Iroquois airport.
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n “The people of Iroquois and area were just fantastic,” said Burgess.
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n “From the emergency services, the lifeguards who swam out, to the community at large. It was really great.”
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