Man uses canoe to rescue pilot who crashed in Reidsville lake

ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — It was a close call for a 69-year-old man as his ultralight vehicle came crashing down into Clarks Lake in Rockingham County on Tuesday afternoon.

Joe Rauch was working in the yard at his Reidsville home when something caught his eye.

“It t was just like ‘sploosh,’ and it was in the water,” Rauch said.

Floating in Clark’s lake was an ultralight vehicle piloted by 69-year-old Cledith Blackwell.

According to the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office, he had taken off from Warf Airport around 3 p.m. and ended up in the water a minute later.

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“I grabbed a couple of my canoe paddles and life jacket, and I ran out here into the canoe. My one friend called 911, and the other friend was pushing the canoe out into the water,” Rauch said.

While Rauch paddled across the lake, the pilot managed to get out of the sunken vehicle and climb on top.

“And I was able to first find out if he was OK … Then I was able to get him into the canoe and get him back to the bank where EMS people had showed up, and they took it from there,” Rauch said.

Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page says the cause of the crash was high winds.

Blackwell’s wife called Rauch to thank him for saving her husband, but he doesn’t want to be called a hero.

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“They said I’m an angel, and I said, ‘I’m far from an angel.’ I just happened to be at the right place at the right time,” Rauch said.

Page says there’s no further investigation into this crash, and Blackwell has hired crews to remove the ultralight vehicle from Clarks Lake.

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