STEVE Haberecht knew something was wrong when an ultralight flew perilously close to his son.
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Ryan Haberecht, 13, was unaware the light plane was heading for him while he was knee boarding on Lake Hume, near Bowna Reserve.
The dramatic photos of his close call were on the front page of yesterday’s
“I thought there was something just not right,” Mr Haberecht said.
“The silly part was the fact he swooped around our boat, he was probably only 10 feet above Ryan and the boat.
“And not just on one occasion, on two or three occasions.
“I felt uncomfortable with him carrying on the way he was carrying on.”
Click play to watch a motion slideshow of the 'buzzing'.
Minutes later the ultralight crashed into Lake Hume.
Pilot Bob Bogaard, 60, claims he was flying at a reasonable height.
He said his altimeter was giving him a reading of 500 feet as he soared over the lake on Monday afternoon.
Mr Haberecht, of Lavington, said he wasn’t surprised when he found out the ultralight had crashed.
“To be honest we weren’t surprised, I just felt there was something wrong,” he said.
Police are waiting on a blood-alcohol reading for Mr Bogaard, which may take more than a month.
Mr Bogaard said he had not been drinking alcohol before taking off from Holbrook but had swallowed “two litres of petrol” when the plane went down.
Mr Haberecht said he wasn’t “overly concerned” about the pilot’s behaviour at the time but was now he could look back.
“Ryan’s fine, but I think looking back at it he was a bit shocked to see how close he was,” Mr Haberecht said.
“He’s bit overawed with the whole thing, being only 13.”
Mr Haberecht and his son were on board Greg Jackson’s boat with Mr Jackson’s sons Charlie and Mackenzie and his mother-in-law.
Mr Jackson, of Lavington, was driving the boat and said the “writing was on the wall” in regards to the crash.
“I think there was always a risk of him doing exactly that,” he said.
“I’ve never seen anyone do it before, I’ve never seen anyone attempt to do it before but he didn’t do it very well did he?”
Charlie, 14, said he recognised Mr Bogaard on the news.
“We waved at him and he waved back, that’s how close he was,” Charlie said.
