A small plane crashed into Lake Tahoe’s Rubicon Bay on Saturday, July 1st.
Caliverve/Getty Images/iStockphotoLake Tahoe’s Fourth of July weekend started on a down note when a small fixed-wing airplane crashed into the water in Lake Tahoe’s Rubicon Bay, seriously injuring one passenger, on Saturday, July 1st.
The El Dorado Sheriff’s Department said it received calls about a downed plane at around 10:18 a.m. The sheriff’s department said the plane’s two passengers were saved by nearby civilians on boats but one passenger had sustained a serious head injury.
According to KOLO, the aircraft was a Piper PA-28, a small two-seat airplane often used as an air taxi. The sheriff’s department said the plane had already sunk below the surface of the lake and had been “marked with GPS coordinates for hazardous materials (hazmat) purposes.”
The incident was reminiscent of a 2021 Tahoe area place crash that killed six people.
While thankfully no one died in the accident on Saturday, it was an auspicious start to what is expected to be one of Lake Tahoe’s most chaotic weekends of the year. July 4th tends to bring gridlock traffic, staggering amounts of litter, and general assortment of strange behavior to the Tahoe area. This year could be even more intense after the record-breaking amount of snow that the Sierras received last winter, which will limit the amount of places visitors can go in the area.