RANGELEY – A Cessna 172 M float plane crashed into Rangeley Lake on Thursday afternoon after one of its pontoons touched the water early and flipped the plane upside down.

Pilot Larry Koob of Oquossoc village in Rangeley and owner of Oquossoc Marine, and his passenger, Jim Sopel of Rangeley, were not hurt except for some minor scratches, Maine Warden Patrick Egan said.

The plane hit the water to the right of Doctors Island in the eastern end of the lake, about seven miles from Oquossoc, which is at the western tip of Rangeley Lake.

Koob was able to get out, but he noticed that Sopel had not surfaced, so Koob dove back down to get him, Egan said.

Koob could see Sopel working his way to the back of the plane where an air pocket had formed and was able to pull him out, Egan said.

A couple of kayakers went out, along with a Rangeley Fire and Rescue Department boat and the Warden Service boat.

Both Koob and Sopel were out of the water by then and in a boat, Egan said.

Koob confirmed Friday morning that he and Sopel were OK. He was busy in the afternoon working with a Federal Aviation Administration inspector and trying to get the plane turned over to determine the damage and could not be reached for comment.

Rangeley police Chief Phil Weymouth said before Koob’s plane crashed that he had been watching a couple of military helicopters flying nearby.

Somehow, he said, Koob’s plane hit the water to the right of Doctors Island before he was ready to land.

Egan said Koob had communication with the helicopters before the crash.

Police officer Brian Hughes responded to the scene as well as Egan and firefighters.

The 1973 fixed-wing single engine plane was towed down the lake by other boats Thursday evening about 7 miles to Oquossoc near the marina.

Fire Chief Rudy Davis said the rescue call came in at 3:21 p.m., and firefighters set up at Lakeside Mariner. Owner Harold Schaetzle already had a pontoon boat in the water and he took out an emergency medical technician and then they launched the fire department’s boat and sent out a firefighter and two more with NorthStar Emergency Medical Service medics to the site.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection was also alerted to the accident, Egan said.

A Federal Aviation Administration inspector was reviewing the plane Friday, FAA regional spokesman Jim Peters said from New York.

The plane was in about 8 feet of water Friday afternoon. He said people at the scene were trying to determine whether it could turned over, if it was damaged and if it would be able to fly again, Peters said.

The plane is registered to the marina, he said.