Man crashes experimental plane into Lake Sammamish

A Redmond man has emerged unscathed after the experimental aircraft he had designed and built crashed into Lake Sammamish during a test flight on Wednesday.

Paul Weston was piloting his craft on its second test flight, when he attempted to land it on the lake.

He said that he had the wing flaps in the wrong position for landing, causing the plane to approach the water too quickly.

One wing dipped into the water, and the plane flipped over.

Weston was not injured in the accident, and said to the media throng that soon assembled he was "just a little excited."

The report of the downed aircraft came from the 3500 block of Westlake Sammamish Parkway Southeast shortly before 11 a.m.

According to police at the scene, the aircraft was towed back to shore at Vasa Park by Weston's own rescue and safety crew.

The 83 year old said that he learned how to build a plane "by reading books."

"I've built model aircraft before. This is the first full sized one I've built."

A visual inspection revealed minor damage to plane's rear wing.

As of midday, the Federal Aviation Authority were on route to the scene of the accident, and will most likely conduct an investigation.

Contact Sammamish Reporter Editor Jake Lynch at editor@sammamish-reporter.com.

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