THE pilot of an ultralight plane that crashed into Lake Hume claims he was flying safely, despite dramatic photos showing him swooping dangerously close to boaters and a knee-boarder.
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Bob Bogaard, 60, yesterday said he believed he was travelling at a reasonable height and said his altimeter was giving him a reading of 500 feet as he soared over the lake on Monday afternoon before crashing about 3.30pm near Ludlow’s Reserve.
“I think I was flying safely,” Mr Bogaard said. “I went off my instruments and was flying accordingly.
Click play to see a motion slideshow of some of the 'buzzing'.
“I’ve flown over that lake hundreds of times and never had a problem.
“I’m not sure what happened — maybe it was a gust of wind or my engine failed.
“I can’t say much more than that because it’s under investigation.”
Mr Bogaard said he had not drunk any alcohol before taking off from his home airfield of Holbrook about noon.
Nursing bruising yesterday, Mr Bogaard claimed he drank “two litres of petrol” before being rescued by holidaymakers.
“The police wanted to breath-test me straight away and I had to say ‘hang on a second, I’ve just drunk two litres of petrol’.”
“I wasn’t feeling great.”
Police yesterday said they did not expect to get a blood-alcohol reading for Mr Bogaard for at least a month.
A blood sample was taken from Mr Bogaard at Wodonga hospital on Monday following his plungecrash into the lake near Ludlows Reserve that afternoon.
Acting Sgt Stewart Smith declined to say whether an initial breath test had proved positive, but said the processing of the blood sample was unlikely to be completed for four weeks.
Under aviation rules, a pilot has to be sober when flying and must not have consumed alcohol in the hours leading up to take-off.
Sgt Smith said the police and Civil Aviation Safety Authority would hold a joint investigation into the crash with the air watchdog the lead organisation in the probe.
Recreational Aviation Australia, formerly known as the Australian Ultralight Federation, is also involved in the matter.
Its operations manager Zane Tully, who is based in south-east Queensland, said Mr Bogaard would be required to submit a report on the crash within 48 hours, meaning it would be due by this afternoon.4/1
Mr Tully said no action would be taken against Mr Bogaard’s pilot’s licence until that report had been received.
The Australian Transport Safety Board said it would not be investigating the matter.
Sgt Smith said a CASA representative had told him the wreckage of the plane, which was taken to a Wodonga motoring business, would not be examined by the air authority.
That means Mr Bogaard is free to collect the remains of the ultralight, a Facet Sapphire which he had flown from Holbrook.
Sgt Smith said the cause of Mr Bogaard’s crash was still unclear.
“The pilot himself was claiming he had engine failure, but that’s yet to be determined,” Sgt Smith said.
“We can’t say one way or another.”
Sgt Smith said about 15 witnesses, including two off-duty police officers and a water policeman, had provided descriptions of the moments leading up to the crash.
He urged anybody else with information about the case to contact Wodonga police.
