ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY — John Gelinne and his family were looking out over Beards Creek in Edgewater, when they saw a plane take a different route around Lee Airport.
The plane continued to bank hard, which caused it to crash in the ice covered water.
John looked at his son, John Jr., and said "let's go." So they took two kayaks and went on the water.
The ice was so thick the paddle was useless so they retreived a couple of shovels. John Sr. reached the plane first as the pilot was standing in chest deep water.
John was in the Navy and knew the pilot had just minutes in that frozen water to live, so he steered the front of the kayak to him and shouted instructions.
"Get out of the water, just get out of the water and hold tight. I was just, I just pick-axed backwards and got my kayak out of the ice and he was out of the water," Gelinne said.
As his plane was sinking the pilot, identified as 71-year-old Steve Couchman, stood on the wing until Gelinne's kayak got close enough for him to hang on and stay afloat.
John Jr., 37, said he was impressed with his father's efforts being that he's in his sixties.
"I'm sore so, he's pretty sore as well," said John Jr.
John Sr. and Jr. believe the pilot saved a lot of lives by flying off pattern which avoided it from crashing into homes.
"He recognized he was in trouble and he banked it hard left," said the father and son. "He probably saved himself and some houses around him too."
While the pilot's quick thinking may have prevented a much worse catastrophe, Gelinne's action may very well have saved his life.
"Hypothermia can set in within minutes," said a first responder. "Absolutely probably saved his life."
People are now calling the father and son heroes for their courageous acts.
"I don't look at it that way," Said Gelinne. "I look at it as someone that saw something, that needed to do something."
The exact cause of the crash has not yet been released, although police say it appears to have stemmed from some sort of engine issue that started shortly after takeoff from Lee Airport.
