Vehicle recovery that fell through [video] + tips to stay safe on the ice

[Dima]

Longish video of a vehicle recovery after it fell through the ice:



What these people should have done differently? Please give advice rather than just criticism.

Also, post your tips to stay safe on the ice, especially for late-winter Ice.

[IceDog88]

For one thing they shouldn't have even thought of trying to pull the thing out by themselves as someone could have lost their life. Get a professional. Late ice is soft and much weaker as you could see all white ice. Lucky everyone made it out safe.

[RapShack]

I think their best bet for a successful DIY recovery would have been to cut a channel to shore.  When you just try and straight pull a vehicle out of a hole like that I think you're always going to have trouble with the undercarriage hanging up unless you fab up some sort of redneck gantry that straddles the hole.

Love that guys airboat though, looks like it's perfect for rescuing quads and snowmobiles but that side by side was taxing it hard.

[Dima]

They thought about cutting a channel to shore but the ice was very thick, at least 10 inches. It would take them a couple of days to cut it all the way.

The airboat guys mentioned that the vehicle is too heavy for them and they usually specialize in quads and snowmobiles, but I guess there wasn't much choice. They did some damage, some plastic parts fell off, the roof was bent by the crane arm.

So many people are calling them names but there were half a dozen other vehicles on the lake that day. They just were the unlucky ones. Some of you probably drove your quads last week because the ice was still fine.

Let it be just a reminder of the dangers of ice.