A father and his two sons were uninjured when the pontoon plane in which they were traveling crashed into the water off Sias Point in Buzzards Bay around 5 p.m. Monday.

"I saw him flash by my house," said Howard Cobin, who has lived on Sias Point Road for 15 years. "Then I heard it hit the water."

Police identified the pilot  as 44-year-old Louis Page of Dover,  The children were identified as Page's two sons, ages eight and twelve. There were no injuries reported, according to police, and they arrived on the scene to find a private boat along with a pilot boat from the Army Corps of Engineers pulling the victims to safety, the police said in a press release.

It is unclear where the plane was headed, or whether it was taking off or landing, said Onset Fire Chief Howard Andersen.

Cobin said it seemed like the pilot was trying to avoid hitting his house. "It was an awful noise when it hit the water," he said.

Absorbent boom was placed around the plane to soak up any spill from the 30 gallons of fuel that was on board. There was minimal impact to the water, said Interim Harbormaster Garry Buckminster.  Police also confirmed that there was no reported contamination of the waters surrounding the plane.

Workers from TowBoat U.S. Cape Cod and New Bedford, including two divers, lifted the plane in the 8 feet of water it was sitting in so that it could be towed to Massachusetts Maritime Academy for removal.

"It was a dead low tide," said Bill Hobbs, of TowBoat U.S. Cape Cod. Raising the plane so that the team of six people and three boats could tow it was not the hard part. "Getting it where it needed to go was" difficult, he said.

After maneuvering the aircraft around a sandbar and avoiding lobster pots, the plane was removed from the water around 1:00 Tuesday morning.

The FAA has custody of the aircraft, and they are continuing their investigation.