Pilot Rescued From Quabbin Reservoir After Small Plane Goes Down in Massachusetts

A witness on shore spotted the plane hit the water and immediately reported seeing a person calling for help, according to New Salem Fire Chief Matt O'Donnell.

Rudy Blalock

Published: 5/2/2026, 11:18:59 PM EDT

Pilot Rescued From Quabbin Reservoir After Small Plane Goes Down in Massachusetts — The Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts in a file photo. (Shutterstock)

A quick-thinking state trooper waded into the Quabbin Reservoir on Friday evening to pull a pilot to safety after his small plane plunged into the water. The rescue drew police, firefighters, and a medical helicopter to a remote stretch of central Massachusetts.

The crash happened around 7:40 p.m., when the pilot of a North American Navion reported engine trouble before the plane went down into the reservoir near Route 122 and Fishing Area 2, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA said it would investigate the incident.

The rescue unfolded quickly. A witness on shore spotted the plane hit the water and immediately reported seeing a person calling for help, according to New Salem Fire Chief Matt O'Donnell. Units from the New Salem Fire Department, New Salem Police Department, Orange Fire Department, and Massachusetts State Police converged on the scene.

When firefighters arrived, they found a man was in the water. Rather than wait, crews outfitted the first responding state trooper with a personal flotation device and a tether line, then sent him in. The trooper reached the pilot, secured him, and was pulled back to shore by the rescue team.

The pilot, an adult male, was taken by Orange Fire Department ambulance to Orange Airport, where a UMass LifeFlight helicopter was waiting to airlift him to UMass Memorial Medical Center. Officials said no other occupants were believed to be on board. The plane remained fully submerged on Friday night. Authorities said recovery of the plane would wait until proper personnel and equipment could be arranged.

Friday's water rescue in New Salem came after a string of recent fatal small plane crashes across the country. Five members of an Amarillo, Texas, pickleball club were killed on Thursday night when their Cessna 421C went down in the Texas Hill Country while en route to a tournament. Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra confirmed all five aboard died and said preliminary findings indicated the plane was traveling at a high rate of speed at impact. "Based on current findings, there is no indication of a mid-air collision," Becerra said.

The Texas crash followed a fatal accident almost two weeks earlier on April 18, when a Maryland man, identified as David Wade of Salisbury, died after his 1987 Mooney M20J went down in a field in Hamilton Township, Ohio. And on April 13, two people were killed when a vintage World War II-era North American T-6 Texan trainer plane crashed in a field in Bronson, Florida.

In New Salem, officials said on Friday night that no additional information was available about the crash at this time. The FAA has taken the lead in examining what caused the Navion's engine to fail—and what sent the plane into one of New England's largest reservoirs.