Aberdeen Coastguard requested North Kessock Lifeboat to attend, and once on scene at approximately 4.30 pm, the two occupants (a man and a woman) were picked up from the fuselage of the aircraft onto which they had climbed. They were then landed onshore where they were examined by ambulance personnel and confirmed to be safe and well.

Seaplane is righted and towed inshore last night by the North Kessock lifeboat.

Story below – courtesy Aberdeen Press & Journal
by Tony Black and Donald Fraser

The pilot of a seaplane which crashed and flipped over in the Beauly Firth last night called himself a "prat".

Highland businessman Peter Akass, 45, admitted he had forgotten to pull up the landing wheels before putting down on the water yesterday.

He and his woman passenger escaped injury and scrambled from the upturned plane as it sank at Charleston, North Kessock, near Inverness.

They were rescued by a lifeboat scrambled from North Kessock and taken to shore.

Mr Akass, who runs a small shop called the Keeper's Cottage in the Official Loch Ness Exhibition Centre in the village of Drumnadrochit, was on a pleasure flight with 26-year-old Alison Birkett, a relative on holiday from Cumbria.

After helping lifeboatmen rescue his sunken aircraft last night, he said: "I am a prat.

"I made a big mistake and landed on the water with my land wheels still down.

"I am a human being and as such I am fallible. What I did was the equivalent of a pilot landing on land and forgetting to put his wheels down.

"But no one was hurt and that's the important thing."

The £30,000 amphibious home-built Kitfox balsa-wood aircraft is designed to land on runways and water.

Mr Akass said: "We were having a spin around after taking off from Inverness Airport and decided to touch down on the firth.

"I was making a perfect landing on the water when suddenly we were pitched forward by the land wheels which I had forgotten to retract.

"It would otherwise have been a gentle landing so it was a low speed accident. The plane is relatively undamaged.

"We managed to get out before the cabin filled with water."

He added: "I wouldn't say we were frightened, everything seemed very controlled.

"The lifeboat people were superlative. Not only did they rescue us, but they also saved the aircraft from worse damage. I cannot thank them enough for helping out after their life-saving job was done.

"If it wasn't for them then the repair bill would be even bigger. This was just a pleasure trip that went horribly wrong due to my oversight."

Alison said: "It was a day out in the plane, but not quite what I imagined."

The pair were taken to Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, but were found to be unharmed.

An RNLI spokesman said they were alerted at around 4.20pm. An RAF helicopter from Lossiemouth flew to the scene, but was not needed.

The spokesman added: "They were in the water about 10 minutes and taken out uninjured – a bit wet but unharmed. They were checked out by ambulance staff."

He added: "They'll be a bit shocked but are putting a brave face on it."

Duncan Hilditch, 56, owner of the Ecclefechan Bistro in Carrbridge, watched the drama unfold from near Cuilmhor caravan site beside North Kessock.

He had been driving along the shore when he noticed the plane flying low over the water and appearing to turn.

He stopped to watch, thinking it was going to land in the firth.

Mr Hilditch said: "It just hit the water and flipped right over on its nose and went down within 15 seconds.

"It must have been semi-submerged because I got the binoculars out and could see people standing on part of the plane and waving frantically.

"I got right on my mobile phone and called the emergency services, then sped back to North Kessock and alerted the lifeboat.

"Those guys were great and were out on the water within minutes and they sped about a mile and a half up the firth."

Last night, the RNLI lifeboat crew staged a recovery operation for the plane.

Floats were attached and it was dragged by lifeboats into shallow water at North Kessock. Work then began to pump water from the plane.

Hugh Balfour-Paul, 46, a friend of Mr Akass, said the aircraft was one of the safest home-built kit models.

Mr Akass, who lives near the village of Cannich with his wife, Sue, is a member of Highland Aero Club.

He also has his own special effects business, Earth, Wind and Fire, and has done TV and film work including the BBC series Monarch of the Glen.

Yesterday's incident follows a series of crashes involving light planes in the Highlands.

lIn July, four people escaped injury when their light aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing just yards from a Loch Ness-side village.

The plane skimmed treetops over Dores as its engine failed and the pilot looked for a safe-landing area.

He finally managed to put down in a field about 100 yards from the village.

lA businessman and his wife were killed when the aircraft he was flying crashed into a Black Isle hillside in May, 1999. George Sutherland, 58, and his wife, Mary, 55, were killed as they returned to Inverness from Dornoch above the north shore of the Cromarty Firth.