Pilot survives crash into pond.

Byline: The Register-Guard

SAGINAW - A man walked away unharmed from the submerged wreckage of his small aircraft after it crashed into a pond on Saturday morning.

Residents near Delight Valley School Road called the Lane County Sheriff's Office at 9:42 a.m., and said they had seen a small plane flying overhead that seemed to be having engine trouble, sheriff's Sgt. Rene Stone said.

Witnesses said the plane sputtered and lost altitude, clipping trees before crashing into a pond at 80284 Delight Valley Road.

The pilot, 49-year-old Jerry Dale Marshal of Pearl City, Hawaii, freed himself before the plane sank, Stone said. He was not injured.

Sheriff's marine patrol deputies and search and rescue divers helped recover the plane from the water.

- Andrea Damewood