Pilot Recovering After Plane Crashed Into Keystone Lake

Family members and friends of pilot Bruce Forbes said he has been flying his whole life, including for a commercial airline.

There is a lot of praise online for the pilot, by people who know him or those who were simply impressed he and his passenger survived.

OHP said Bruce Forbes fractured his back and is recovering.

Investigators are still working to figure out exactly what happened.

After the hours long search and recovery of the Stearman, the towing company that hauled it away said it would cut off the wings so they could move it, then store it for the FAA.

While the FAA is leading the investigation now, OHP Trooper Matt Hughart shared what he knew about the crash.

"Plane was flying low, lost power, and then hit a power line and subsequently hit the water,” he said.

The pilot's niece, Elizabeth Forbes, said on Facebook, "It was truly his skill that saved his passenger and himself in this crash."

She shared an old newspaper clipping about Bruce and his twin brother, which says when they were 16, "Mr. Forbes informed this office that the boys do not know how to drive a car but can fly an airplane."

On Bruce's LinkedIn profile, he shares a story of flying at an even younger age.

He says, "...my fondest memory was flying my father back from OKC to Tulsa at 10 years old while he slept... I went to college and studied chemical engineering and my dreams were to be an oral surgeon. I got the flying bug again and pursued that hard and fast."

His profile says he flew for United Airlines for more than 30 years, including as a captain.

Now he runs "Forbes Flights," an aviation school at Airman Acres in Collinsville, where at least one student was flying Monday with her instructor with a different company.

Flight records show the Stearman took off from the private airstrip Saturday, then crashed minutes later.

As for teenage passenger Bailey Nevill, her grandmother Debbie Holden says, "I thank God she's ok!! Angel's were looking over them both."

The NTSB is assisting the FAA with the investigation.