What: Privately owned Glasair Aviation “Sportsman 2+2” plane en route to a fishing trip on Lake Klemka
Where: Pipmuacan Reservoir in the Saguenay region
When: Sunday August
Who: Carol Tremblay, 56, and Nathalie Cote, 44,
Why: The couple had decided to go fishing on Lake Klemka, and flew there on the Sportsman configured with floats. They landed on the Pipmuacan Reservoir and were checking for directions when the plane started letting in water. They donned their life jackets and swam (for an hour) for the island. Tuesday they swam from the island to the reservoir and walked till they found a cabin where they found a battery, which enabled them to light-signal the helicopters searching for them.

Joint Co-ordination Rescue Centre in Trenton, Ont., recovered them shortly at 9 p.m. on August 31.

George’s Point of View

So many crashes end badly, it is a real pleasure to hear of survivors who walked away—in this case, swam away—from a downed plane. Their fishing trip turned out to be, not a tragedy, but simply rather more of an adventure than they had anticipated.