PORTLAND CREEK, N.L. - Five men walked away without any injuries Tuesday after their plane slammed into a wooded area in northern Newfoundland on takeoff, one of the men aboard said.
The Beaver float plane was skimming the water near Hawke's Bay, N.L., when it lost control and hit some trees, Leonard Payne said.
"She was just up there to fly and then she came back down and that was it,'' Payne said from his home in nearby Portland Creek.
He said he didn't know what caused the crash, which is now under investigation by the RCMP.
Payne, who runs his own outfitting company and owns the plane, had organized a fishing expedition in southeastern Labrador for the four other men.
All of them -- including an 81-year-old and a 76-year-old -- walked away from the wreckage uninjured, Payne said.
"Everybody's good. Not a scratch on anybody,'' he said.
The $260,000 plane suffered some damage to its wings, but overall Payne was in good spirits considering what could've happened.
"If you can't laugh about it, you're in trouble,'' he said.
"Just be thankful you're alive."
