A pilot has been released from the hospital after his personal aircraft crashed into a canal Thursday morning near the Leon Theriot Floodgate south of Golden Meadow.
Golden Meadow resident Justin Theriot had bought the plane a few weeks ago and flies it for fun. He was the only person in the aircraft.
His girlfriend, RaeAnn Carline, said she videotaped Thursday's flight. The plane only got a few feet off the ground before the engine stalled and it went into the canal, she said.
"I started hollering his name, and he didn't come up," she said. "My first instinct was to jump in the water."
Theriot said he was in the water for five minutes and that he stopped breathing. Carline managed to take off his seat belt, pull him from the aircraft and revive him.
Galliano-based Lafourche Parish Fire District 3 received the call at 7:19 a.m., and the first unit arrived at 7:22 a.m., Training Officer Jordan Collins said. The department left the scene at 10:59 a.m.
The Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office also responded.
Lafourche Ambulance transported Theriot to University Medical Center New Orleans, and he was discharged that afternoon.
Theriot had never crashed the plane before.
Carline said the incident taught her that life is precious.
"It scared the hell out of me," she said.
-- Staff Writer Bridget Mire can be reached at 448-7639 or bridget.mire@dailycomet.com. Follow her on Twitter @bridget_mire.