FERRIDAY — When a Concordia Parish pilot lost control Thursday night and Old River swallowed his one-man plane, an upsurge in gator photo-ops helped put his rescuers in the right place and time.

Jason and Jennifer Maxwell were shooting video of alligators scaling the levee north of Lake Concordia at sunset, when the couple witnessed an ultralight plane flip twice and then spiral down into Old River, only a mile or so away, Jason said.

“I thought (the pilot) must be doing flips or tricks, and (then) at the time I could tell he didn’t have control,” Jason said. “When it hit (the river), I punched the truck to catch up to (the scene),” Jason said.

When he and his wife arrived where the plane crashed into the river, the plane had already sunk.

The plane sunk instantly, Jason said, but he saw the pilot’s head bob up to the water’s surface, and then the pilot starting backstroking toward the bank.

Jason said the pilot, Edwin Rowan III, stopped swimming three to five feet from the bank, which prompted Jason to jump in after him.

“That levee’s really steep. Even three or four yards off the bank you’re in 30 (feet) of water,” Jason said.

He dragged him to shore, and Jennifer performed CPR on Rowan until he started breathing again.

At that time, the Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office officials and an ambulance arrived.

Rowan was transferred to a local hospital and transported to Jackson for treatment, Jason said. Rowan’s location or condition could not be confirmed Thursday night.

“I just thank God that he put us in that place at that time and saved his life,” Jason said.

Jason said before Jennifer performed CPR and after he pulled Rowan to shore, Rowan was unresponsive at first when Jason asked him if he was OK.

“I asked if he was OK again, and he uttered the words he ‘didn’t know,’” Jason said. “Then he quit talking, and that’s when things got kind of serious.”

Since Rowan was wearing a helmet, Jason said he cut off the helmet with his pocketknife to allow Jennifer to try to do CPR.

The CPR helped him breath again, and he was transported by ambulance soon after.

Jason said the incident shook up his wife, but that she had calmed down after a while.

“She did an excellent job, and I’m very proud of her,” he said.

Concordia Parish Sheriff Randy Maxwell, who is Jason’s father, said the CPSO alerted the Federal Aviation Administration of the incident, and they will likely investigate the crash today.

Sheriff Maxwell said the sheriff’s office was alerted to the incident when his son called him at approximately 8 p.m. Sheriff Maxwell said late Thursday he was not sure of the status of Rowan, but that he thought he was fine.

Both Jason and his father said they have met Rowan before and that Rowan has been taking photographs of the flood from his plane during previous flights.

Though details on the type of aircraft involved in Thursday night’s crash were unavailable, ultralight airplanes are light-weight, one- or two-person aircraft.

The ultralight planes are generally not required to meet as many safety regulations as other aircraft.

Ultralight aircraft can include powered parachutes, powered gliders and fixed-wing planes.

Sheriff Maxwell said he has seen Rowan in his plane during the flood recently when Maxwell was scanning the flood himself from a helicopter.

Sheriff Maxwell said it was unusual how fortunate the situation was for the pilot.

“I’m extremely proud of both of them,” Sheriff Maxwell said.