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Seaplane removed from Lake Winnebago


A seaplane is hoisted out of Lake Winnebago July 31, 2017, four days after it crashed into the lake. (WLUK/Brittay Ford)
A seaplane is hoisted out of Lake Winnebago July 31, 2017, four days after it crashed into the lake. (WLUK/Brittay Ford)
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OSHKOSH (WLUK) -- A seaplane has been removed from Lake Winnebago four days after it crashed during EAA AirVenture.


The crash last Thursday fatally injured 71-year-old Diane Linker of Sauk Rapids, Minnesota. The pilot and the other passenger were also injured.

EAA officials said the plane had taken off from the convention's seaplane base when it hit a wave and crashed into the lake.

The crash itself happened off EAA grounds.

Divers worked to pull the seaplane from the muddy depths of Lake Winnebago Monday.

"It made it a little trickier, how they handled the aircraft with the extra weight, the water and mud steeped into the aircraft," said Dan Baker, Investigator, with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Baker says recovering the plane took around two hours,"This one was intact, so all they had to do was hook on it, and pull it out."

He continued to explain, that a full crash investigation will now be conducted, "Right now, the plan is to take the aircraft back to a secure storage location on the airfield."

Baker says the agency will be looking at a number of potential causes, including mechanics, experience of the pilot, and environmental conditions, "We take all that, put it together, after we gather all that information, that will give us a pretty clear picture of what happened."

As the wreckage was hauled away, Baker says the quick removal process, will help expedite the investigation,"This was very efficient equipment to do the job, it didn't take very long at all."

NTSB says it will have an update later this week, but the full report could take up to a year to finish.

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