'This guy's going to have an accident': Fisherman says ultralight aircraft pilot flew so low he could see him smiling before he crashed into a lake and his female passenger went missing

  • Desperate search underway for women who is missing after hang glider crashed
  • Hang glider crashed into Lake Eildon at about 12.20pm on Saturday afternoon 
  • The male pilot in his 40s was rescued a short time later but women still missing 

A woman is feared dead after a hang glider crashed into a lake in the Victorian Alps. 

The hang glider crashed into Lake Eildon near near Mountain Bay at 12.20pm on Saturday.

The pilot, in his 40s, escaped with minor injuries and was pulled from the lake by a fishing boat.

But his female passenger, whose age or name is not known, is still missing. 

A desperate search is underway for a women who is missing after the hang glider she was in crashed into Lake Eildon near Mountain Bay in Victoria (pictured)

A desperate search is underway for a women who is missing after the hang glider she was in crashed into Lake Eildon near Mountain Bay in Victoria (pictured)

Local emergency services rushed to the scene where a search was immediately launched. 

An eyewitness to the crash told The Herald Sun the 'smiling pilot' had been flying close to the surface of the lake prior to the incident.

'The plane was maybe a metre and a half above the water, and he was going very fast, he was so close I could see his grin, and I remember saying 'This guy's going to have an accident,' the witness told the publication.

'I could see the pilot and another woman on board — she looked around the same age as the man and she may have been strapped to the aircraft.'

Water police and emergency crews are still combing the lake for any sign of the missing woman. 

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau have been notified. 

An Australian Transport Safety Bureau spokesman told Daily Mail Australia the aircraft is sitting at the bottom of the lake.

A weight-shifted microlight is a hang glider with an engine with a tricycle undercarriage. 

Traditionally if the engine stops on a weight-shift microlight than the aircraft becomes a glider and should still fly. 

According to a report from ATSB there were 61 incidents, 20 serious incidents and 129 accidents in weight-shift aircraft in the 10 years leading to 2017. 

'On average, weight shift aircraft had the lowest accident rates of all types of recreational flying,' the report stated. 

An Australian Transport Safety Bureau spokesperson confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the women was in the weight-shift microlight hang glider near Mountain Bay, in Victoria, at about 12.20pm on Saturday

An Australian Transport Safety Bureau spokesperson confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the women was in the weight-shift microlight hang glider near Mountain Bay, in Victoria, at about 12.20pm on Saturday

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Fisherman says hang glider pilot flew so low he could see him smiling before he crashed into a lake

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