PALMER -- An experimental homebuilt amphibious small plane known as a Kingfisher flipped while taking off from a lake near Wasilla Monday morning, but the pilot was able to swim to safety, the National Transportation Safety Board said.
The pilot, identified as 72-year-old Hugh Barber, told investigators that he was taking off "when his plane started to bounce on the lake and flipped upside down," according to a dispatch posted online by Alaska State Troopers.
Barber escaped the aircraft after it flipped, NTSB Alaska region chief Clint Johnson said. The plane later sank in the large, clear lake located in the unincorporated Meadow Lakes area west of Wasilla.
The pilot will be responsible for removing the plane from the lake, Johnson said. The NTSB is investigating the crash.