Cessna 172 ice landing on Lake Champlain

[ashawley]

South Burlington, Vermont - Saturday after 1800Z on 2015-04-11 a Cessna 172, call sign N739VL, went missing over Lake Champlain near Grand Isle.  A mayday call was reported to ATC by traffic departing Burlington Airport (KBTV) on the approach frequency 121.1.  News reports say that the pilot and passenger did not suffer serious injuries and were able to get to a nearby boat access and meet emergency services.  The national weather service considers the lake fully iced and reports the water temperature at 34 degrees F.

The flight checked in with clearance delivery at Burlington Airport at around 1715Z, and departed 10 minutes later.  It arrived at Plattsburgh Airport (KPBG) communicating on 121.1 around 1745Z.  The recording is primarily of attempts by ATC to work with traffic in the vicinity to locate the missing plane.  It runs around 11 minutes.

KBTV 111654Z 30018G30KT 10SM OVC042 07/M03 A2990 RMK AO2 PK WND 32030/1653 SLP127 T00721033
KBTV 111754Z 32016G20KT 10SM BKN041 OVC050 07/M03 A2993 RMK AO2 PK WND 32027/1728 SLP137 T00721028 10078 20050 53021

[martyj19]

Press coverage

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2015/04/11/occupants-reportedly-ok-after-plane-crash/25635927/
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/2015/04/12/company-plane-removal-may-take-friday/25681541/

If this story is accurate, they were deliberately landing and taking off on the ice and became stuck in melting ice.
If I understand things correctly, they had departed KBTV Burlington, landed at KPBG Plattsburgh, and then departed from KPBG when the loss of contact happened.
The local fire department does not consider the lake "fully iced" and was not pleased about the possibility of sending their crews onto the lake.

[ashawley]

I should have clarified that the national weather service considers the lake fully iced when it would otherwise report the wave activity during its recreational forecast which is primarily intended for boaters.

Game wardens require ice fishing shanties to be off the lake either before it melts or March 29.  Two weeks ago, several people who were ice fishing fell through on their ATVs.