A pilot and passenger are unhurt after a small plane overshot a runway and skidded into a river at an airpark in Courtenay Monday morning.
The pilot told CTV News it happened when he was coming in too fast during a landing attempt.
He was about to lift off and circle back for another landing attempt, but hesitated too long and wound up crashing through a chain-link fence and into the Courtenay River.
Both the pilot and passenger climbed out of the plane and onto the wing and were brought to shore, according to witnesses.
BC Ambulance Service confirmed paramedics were called to the airpark at 9:50 a.m., but no one suffered injuries.
The Coast Guard was called into to set up a boom around the plane.
A crane was later brought in to lift the submerged plane out of the water.
The incident shut down the airpark and a nearby walkway for several hours.
A crane lifts a submerged plane from the Courtenay River after it crashed Monday, Nov. 2, 2015. (CTV Vancouver Island)
