Downed plane raised from Lake Travis
On Wednesday afternoon divers raised the bi-plane that crashed into Lake Travis near Bob Wentz Park.
The cause is still under investigation, but the FAA says preliminarily, they believe engine failure is the reason for the crash. FAA officials were on Lake Travis on Wednesday to make sure the plane was raised in tact, so they could continue with their investigation.
Fox 7 was on board a boat with Robert Weiss, the owner of Lake Travis Scuba, when the plane was brought to the surface. Weiss and members of his crew of divers located and preserved the wreckage site. Weiss was also able to recover a hat that belonged to one of the plane’s passengers.
“He's a cancer patient right now,” Weiss tells Fox 7 adding, “he just survived a wreck, he has a new grandson who's got a hat just like him His biggest concern was getting the hat so he could get a photo with the grandson who has the same kind of hat."
Weiss was able to recover it and send it to him.
The plane’s owner and pilot, Robert Whiteside (a former Air Force F-16 pilot) tells Fox 7, "I cannot make a statement at this time due to an ongoing investigation but I'm happy that no one was seriously hurt.”
Read Lake Travis plane crash survivor describes moments before hitting water
Read Local dive team find crashed plane: return items to passengers