'Heroic' kayakers skimmed across a frozen creek in Maryland to rescue a pilot from a downed plane

• Kayakers rescued a pilot whose plane crashed into a frozen creek in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
• They used their kayaks to "skim across the iced creek" and aid the pilot, police said.

"Heroic" kayakers probably saved the life of a pilot whose plane crashed into a frozen creek in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, police said.

The pilot, Steve Couchman, took off from Lee Airport on Monday in a Piper Cherokee single-engine plane, according to a statement from Maryland state police. Witnesses told police they heard the plane's engine sputtering shortly after take-off before it crashed into Beards Creek, Edgewater.

Police said two nearby civilians and an on-duty police officer attended the scene and used three kayaks to "skim across the iced creek" to assist the pilot. As the plane sank, the pilot exited and stood on its wing, and when the kayakers were close enough, the pilot held on to one of them to stay afloat, police said.

Officers from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police arrived at the scene soon after and transported Couchman, 71, to a nearby marina. He was then taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center for medical treatment.

Anne Arundel County Fire Department Lieutenant Jennifer Macallair said in a video posted by NBC affiliate WBAL of Baltimore that the pilot's injuries were not considered life-threatening.

Macallair said the civilian kayakers' efforts were "heroic" and their rapid response prevented Couchman from getting hypothermia.

"Hypothermia can set in within minutes," Macallair said. "So the fact that these two individuals were able to recognize what happened and got into their kayaks and went out there, absolutely probably saved his life."